Walton Francis, a leading expert on the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, participated in a Nov. 19 Federal Times webcast to answer questions from federal employees and retirees about the FEHBP Open Season. Francis kindly agreed to answer many audience questions that could not be answered due to time constraints, and those questions and answers follow.
Get the answers here
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View the on-demand replay of the webcast
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Watch Federal Times Editor Steve Watkins’ interview with Walton Francis
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See another Q&A, with William Breskin
Walton Francis pioneered the systematic comparison of health insurance plans from a consumer perspective. He is the principal author of the annual CHECKBOOK’s Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees (available online at www.guidetohealthplans.org).
Francis, a self-employed economist and expert in the analysis and evaluation of public programs and government regulation, has earned Master’s degrees from Yale and Harvard universities and worked previously for the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Health and Human Services, and served as a consultant to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He has testified before Congress on the performance of the Federal Employees Health Benefits and Medicare programs. His scholarly book Putting Medicare Consumers in Charge: Lessons from the FEHBP provides an in-depth evaluation of both the FEHBP and Medicare programs.
