Opening up the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) can serve as a vehicle to extend access to private health insurance to nonfederal workers. Opening up the FEHBP may also be a politically feasible incremental change because it potentially appeals to those at both ends of the political spectrum. Each of the various ways of enabling nonfederal workers to participate in the FEHBP has its pros and cons. This paper looks at using the FEHBP as a voluntary buy-in opportunity to help those who lack health insurance--without displacing or disrupting existing sources of health coverage or creating an expensive federal program.