Davis Letter to OPM: Let’s Capitalize on Success of Dental/Vision Open Season

February 16, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the leading advocate for giving federal employees access to dental and vision benefits, sent the following letter today to Office of Personnel Management Director Linda Springer. The letter lauds OPM for its overwhelmingly successful roll-out of the new program, and urges Director Springer to attempt to “leverage” this success to “ensure participants are receiving the best…products and services at the lowest cost.”

Davis sent the following letter to OPM:

February 16, 2007

The Honorable Linda M. Springer
Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
1900 E Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20415-0001

Dear Director Springer:

Congratulations on the Office of Personnel Management’s extremely successful Open Season for the new Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). When Congress passed the legislation to create FEDVIP in 2004, first year enrollments were projected to be about 200,000. As you know, interest in the program ended up far exceeding expectations, however, and thanks in part to OPM s flexibility in extending the enrollment deadline, there were over 700,000 enrollees for FEDVIP’s first Open Season.

Based on this unexpected response, I encourage you to identify ways that the federal government can leverage this large pool to ensure that participants are receiving the best dental and vision products and services at the lowest cost to the participants. Because FEDVIP is entirely funded by federal employee contributions, this would not necessarily lead to a savings to the government. It could, however, reduce out of pocket costs to federal employees.

Thank you again for your work in successfully rolling out FEDVIP, and I look forward to working with you to identify ways to further improve and enhance the program in the future.

Sincerely,
Tom Davis
Ranking Member