Beginning on January 1, 2011, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will require all insurance carriers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program to offer standardized, expanded tobacco cessation coverage. This includes full coverage (no enrollee copayments, no coinsurance, no deductibles, and no annual/lifetime dollar limits) for seven FDA-approved medications, four counseling sessions per quit attempt, and two quit attempts per year.
OPM has announced that this year’s FEHB Open Season will run from November 8 through December 13, 2010. Open Season gives FEHB enrollees the opportunity to change their health care coverage. It also gives employees who are not enrolled, but eligible to participate, the opportunity to elect coverage.
This will pay for itself in a year or less.