{"id":12048,"date":"2018-03-27T14:59:47","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T14:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/27\/senate-bill-would-force-postal-service-retirees-onto-medicare\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:21:29","slug":"senate-bill-would-force-postal-service-retirees-onto-medicare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2018\/03\/27\/senate-bill-would-force-postal-service-retirees-onto-medicare\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate bill would force Postal Service retirees onto Medicare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Postal Service annuitants would be forced to enroll in Medicare alongside their standard health benefits program if a bipartisan bill introduced last week passes Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Postal Service Reform Act of 2018, introduced March 23, aims to reverse the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/management\/budget\/2017\/11\/14\/postal-service-red-ink-for-11th-year-in-row-as-mail-slumps\/\">net losses USPS has reported in its finances for the past 11 years<\/a>. But the bill has received mixed reviews from advocates for federal employees who fear other government workers might one day be impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association president Richard G. Thissen called the bill an attempt to \u201cbalance the books of the United States Postal service on the backs of postal retirees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A retiree may have to pay another $1,600 or more per year in Medicare premiums, according to Thissen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Tom Carper, D-Del., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., sponsored the bill.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNearly two and a half centuries after its founding, the Postal Service remains an important part of our everyday lives and plays a vital role in our economy,\u201d Carper said in a statement. \u201cBut it continues to lose money at a record pace. Our economy still depends on a healthy and robust Postal Service. It\u2019s our duty in Congress to pave a fiscally sustainable path that will enable this American institution to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/leadership\/2016\/01\/21\/usps-reform-is-long-overdue-stakeholders-say\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635889869240241991-usps-mail-truckjpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">USPS reform is long overdue, stakeholders say<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A sense of urgency pervades Senate panel hearing as witnesses detail service&#039;s needs.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The USPS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/management\/budget\/2017\/08\/10\/postal-service-more-red-ink-missed-payments-as-mail-slumps\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">defaulted on its multi-billion-dollar retiree health prefunding payments<\/a> for the fifth time in 2017 and missed the payments it owed to the federal retirement system for the first time. Along with the healthcare changes, the bill also eliminates the existing statutory payment schedule, cancels any outstanding payments and gradually pays off payments over 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA Postal Service Medicare eligible annuitant subject to this section may not continue coverage under the Postal Service Health Benefits Program unless the Postal Service Medicare eligible annuitant enrolls in Medicare part A, Medicare part B and Medicare part D,\u201d the bill said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bill\u2019s Medicare requirement can be waived in cases of \u201cextreme financial hardship,\u201d though the bill does not specify what such cases would look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Should the bill pass, Postal Service employees and annuitants would be notified of the Medicare requirement and provided information on their options 180 days after passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bill would also create a new Postal Service Health Benefits Program within the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and administered by the Office of Personnel Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some postal groups, such as the United Postmasters and Managers of America, have come out in support of the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUPMA applauds the efforts of Senators Carper, Moran, Heitkamp and McCaskill in introducing bipartisan legislation to further the goal of providing financial relief to the U.S Postal Service, helping safeguard a universal postal system, and encouraging innovation,\u201d said UPMA co-presidents Tony Leonardi and Sean Acord. \u201cUPMA looks forward to continue working with these Senators and other members of Congress to sustain the U.S. Postal Service, a proven national treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though Thissen, of NARFE, said that the bill \u201csets a dangerous precedent for all federal retirees\u201d the text claims that postal employees are different enough from other federal employees that its changes to health insurance requirements would not be applicable anywhere else:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is the sense of Congress that nothing in this section or the amendments made by this section is intended to establish a precedent with respect to federal employees at large, given that the Postal Service is a unique entity within the federal government and benefits for employees of the Postal Service are only partially integrated with benefits for federal employees at large.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to Postal Service healthcare changes, the bill also allows for a rate increase in postage prices, service and accountability reforms, the shipment of alcohol and a resolution to mismatching mailing addresses for some Missouri residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/management\/pay-benefits\/2017\/06\/05\/are-postal-service-retiree-obligations-too-big-to-move-commentary\/\">A similar version of this bill<\/a> was introduced in the House in January 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Postal Service Reform Act would require annuitants to enroll in Medicare alongside their standard health plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":37635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[104,38,109,31,15,33,9,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2853],"class_list":["post-12048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acquisition-update","category-congress","category-federal-retiremen-academy","category-home","category-management","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight","category-pay-benefits"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PTLHF6NDLRBDPASV734JY7AAAA","arc_canonical_url":"\/management\/pay-benefits\/2018\/03\/27\/senate-bill-would-force-postal-service-retirees-onto-medicare\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senate bill would force Postal Service retirees onto Medicare - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Postal Service Reform Act would require annuitants to enroll in Medicare alongside their standard health plans.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate bill would force Postal Service retirees onto Medicare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Postal Service Reform Act would require annuitants to enroll in Medicare alongside their standard health plans.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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