Room at the Top for More Diversity

Cross-examining Blue Cross/Blue Shield

"We must do a better job of reflecting our country's diversity in the senior ranks at all agencies . . . ," said Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii). (By Caleb Jones -- Associated Press)

Federal workers getting the blues from health-insurance issues might want to check out a hearing that Davis, chairman of the House subcommittee on the federal workforce, postal service and the District of Columbia, will hold tomorrow on the Blue Cross/Blue Shield health plan.

The hearing will examine changes in the insurance company's benefits and premiums for the 2009 Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

The hearing was scheduled after a Federal Diary column last Wednesday that said patients using the company's standard option next year will pay 100 percent for surgery by an out-of-network physician, up to a maximum of $7,500 per surgeon, per surgical day. Currently, the rate is 25 percent of what the company sets for a procedure, plus any difference between that and the billed amount.

Premiums for that plan are set to rise about 13 percent, while rates for other plans available to federal employees will remain almost flat.

With more than half of the 8 million federal employees, retirees and dependents in the plan, Blue Cross/Blue Shield is the big foot in the room.

Among those on the witness list are Michael W. Hager, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, and Stephen W. Gammarino, senior vice president of national programs for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building. For more information, contact the subcommittee at 202-225-5147. You can find last week's column through a link on my blog at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-diary.

Diary associate Eric Yoder contributed to this column. Contact Joe Davidson at federaldiary@washpost.com