GEHA ’s Seven-Year “Glitch”

By NIRAN AL-AGBA, MD In a little piece of legislation known as the Affordable Care Act, preventive services are mandated to be covered with no out-of-pocket expense to consumers. According to the Healthcare.gov website, approved insurance plans must cover a “list of preventive services for children without charging a copayment or coinsurance.” Number 18 on that preventive care list is: childhood immunizations for children from birth to age 18, acknowledging regional variation in the standard recommendation schedule. After all, vaccinations are the cornerstone public health achievement of the last century and have saved countless pediatric lives. Alas, all fairy tales must come to an end. For government employees choosing GEHA insurance coverage, that type of prevention comes at a definitive out-of-pocket cost. According to Wikipedia, GEHA is a self-insured, not-for-profit association providing health and dental plans to federal employees and retirees and their families through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). According to the US Census Bureau 2014 statistics, Washington State has approximately 341,000 state and local government employees. My hometown has three very large installations, the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport, and the Bangor Naval Submarine Base employing a large number of full-time employees and contractors.   Many of these individ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized ACA Copayment GEHA HACA Vaccinations Source Type: blogs