Access to Consumers’ Checkbook’s online Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees and Annuitants b

NTEI is pleased to announce that NTEU members will again have access to Consumers’ Checkbook’s online Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees and Annuitants. All NTEU members who currently or are planning to participate in Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) plans or the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) will find this online tool useful when making decisions regarding maintaining or changing health and dental insurance plans.

The guide will be available through NTEU’s web site, www.nteu.org. You can find the link in two places on the website. Both of the links are located under the Benefits tab. One link is in the “Shopping and Other Discounts” section and the other is in the “Insurance” section. The links will be available in the Benefit section throughout Open Season (November 11, 2019 – December 9, 2019) and will remain available throughout 2020 for NTEU members.

The online guide was developed by Consumers’ Checkbook, a nonprofit organization that has published an annual paperback version of its guide for more than 30 years. This online guide is an innovative way to obtain reliable, useful information about the many health plans available under the FEHB and make fast, easy, personalized plan comparisons. The guide compares and ranks plans based on total costs including account premiums and estimated out-of-pocket costs (e.g., deductibles, co-payments, and prescription drugs); and on the yearly maximum that an enrollee could possibly have to pay out-of-pocket. The guide will also offer comparisons of the FEDVIP dental and vision plans available to federal employees. The site has been praised for its ease of use. Members will be able to compare plan costs, review quality ratings, consider plan features, and gauge plan flexibility on issues like choice of doctors and other factors.