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Looks at using the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) as a voluntary buy-in opportunity to help those who lack health insurance. Potential advantages and problems of FEHBP; Link to other reforms; Reassurance to the public; Stakeholder concerns; Timing and phase-ins.

This survey of large, private-sector employers offering retiree health benefits in 2003 provides a detailed baseline of private retiree health plans on the eve of the most sweeping changes to Medicare since its enactment. Total retiree health costs rose 13.7 percent in 2003, and average retiree contributions to premiums for employees age sixty-five and older retiring in 2003 rose 18 percent. Nearly half of surveyed employers have capped their contributions to health coverage for retirees over age sixty-five. Before passage of the new Medicare legislation, 20 percent said that they are likely to eliminate benefits for future retirees within three years.