Topical Legal & Policy Research

Governmental Benefits

Federal Employee Health Benefits Program

What: The Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHB) [2] provides health insurance for over 8 million enrollees and dependants.  Eligible enrollees may choose from Fee For Service (FFS) or Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) health plans.  The FEHB website provides consumer friendly information about the program and the available health insurance plans.  For advocates, the FEHB website offers many quick links to FEHB statutes and regulations.
How to search: Users may access via hyperlink several FEHB specific laws and consumer education materials. 

• FEHB Regulations and FEHB Statues [3] - Provides a quick link to FEHB specific Code of Federal Regulations and United States Codes.  Users may browse list of sections provided in both HTML and PDF formats. 
• FEHB Eligibility - Provides detailed information regarding eligibility criteria for enrollment in FEHB.  Several linked pages direct users to specific categories of eligibility.
• Plan Specific Brochures  - Provides links to plan specific details on coverage and services offered.  Brochures for plans may be found by plan name, zip code search, or year of release.  When searching for past years brochures note that the search tools offered each year differ.  
• Medicare and FEHB - Links to index of information on how the FEHB and Medicare programs affect each other. 
• Consumer Rights - Details consumer protections under FEHB regulations, including appeal information, patients' rights, and privacy protections.

Helpful hints: FEHB site provides many helpful quick links for advocates handling questions from consumers with or seeking to obtain FEHB coverage.  Additionally, much of the site provides information in consumer friendly language, making it ideal for distribution directly to consumers.  The plan brochure search functions (see above) permit users to access specific detail about the plans available in their area. 
Other Web sites: As with other topical sites much of the information provided on the FEHB site will not be available on other sites.  The statutes and regulations however may be found on the above Web sites. 

[2] Administered by the United States Office of Personnel Management.  See their home page at http://www.opm.gov/.

[3] The quick links provided on the FEHB Web site take users to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.  Users may access the Cornell site directly at http://www.law.cornell.edu/.