Benefits in the Cross-fire
The biweekly pay stubs of federaj workers could show some more deductions after Senate and House budget cutters this week go after everything from take-home pay to health insurance premiums to the amount of inflation protection workers will have in retirement.</br></br>There will be no final decisions for some time, but this is the beginning of the end of the budget process.</br></br>The Senate is looking at a plan to force federal workers to pay more for health care coverage or move into less costly health maintenance organizations that would give them less control over their health care than most fee-for-service plans. The proposal, outlined here last Tuesday, would put a dollar limit on the amount Uncle Sam would contribute to workersÛª health care premiums. That limit is now a percentageÛÓthe government pays about 72 percent of the total premium for nonpostal workers. If a dollar limit was imposed, the government would pay something like $1,500 a year of the premium for a single policyholder and $3,400 for a federal worker with a family plan. The employee would pay the rest.</br></br>The Senate may try to base employeesÛª retirement benefits on the highest five-year average salary rather than the current high-three formula. That would be phased in over a two-year period, starting next year. It would mean smaller benefits for future retirees than they anticipate under the high-three system.</br></br>This week, the House Budget Committee could announce some of its proposed cuts in federal personnel costs. The Washington Times says they could include limiting full retiree cost-of-living adjustments to 2 percent. Any increase in inflation above the 2 percent level would be limited to a so-called diet COLA that was less than the full rate of inflation. The Senate and the House could complete work on their versions of the budget resolution (the spending blueprint) by the Memorial Day recess. Final action on a compromise budget might not come until just before the August recess.