House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is demanding to know why the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) is shelling out more than $1 billion annually in payments for people who are not eligible participants.
Comer told Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kiran Ahuja in a Jan. 23 letter that a recent report compiled by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) found “that FEHB is riddled with ineligible ‘participants’ who are receiving benefits under the program. GAO estimates that ‘the program may be spending up to $1 billion per year on payments for ineligible members.’ This is a flagrant waste of funds and may be driving up premium costs for eligible participants.”…