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WASHINGTON – Federal employees and retirees on average will pay 13.5 percent more for health insurance next year under new premium information announced today by the Office of Personnel Management. 

“This is the highest health insurance premium increase in more than two decades and will stretch employees’ paychecks beyond what they can afford,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald. “I call on President Biden and Congress to take immediate action on providing federal employees with an average 7.4 percent increase as called for by the FAIR Act.”

The average federal employee cost for family coverage in a national plan in 2025 will be $316.63 per biweekly paycheck, an increase of more than $40, according to OPM. The Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) offers 130 plans and options for employees to choose from, depending on their location, with a wide variety of prices and coverage, so some premiums may have larger or smaller increases.

“While employees have options for lower-cost plans, we know those often come at the expense of fewer benefits. Federal workers should not have to sacrifice health coverage because they can’t manage the higher payments,” Greenwald said. “The federal government has a responsibility to provide fair pay and affordable health insurance. That should be a priority for the nation’s largest employer.”

Open season for federal employees to enroll or change their health insurance company or policy for next year starts Nov. 11 and goes through Dec. 9.    

NTEU continues to support efforts in Congress to reduce enrollee health care costs, such as previously introduced prescription drug-related pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) legislation that would provide consumers with more transparency, and at times, cheaper options at the pharmacy counter. PBMs operate as middlemen to negotiate prescription drug prices with drug companies and pharmacies on behalf of individual FEHBP plans, though in recent years there has been little evidence it has reduced costs for enrollees. NTEU believes that OPM should take steps to ensure measures like these are extended to FEHBP plans, which would provide some opportunity for savings for federal employees. 

“NTEU does appreciate that more employees will have access to coverage for in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments,” Greenwald said. “Benefits that help employees support their families are key to the federal government being able to compete with the private sector for the skilled workers that agencies need to serve the taxpayers. We just have to make sure employees can afford those benefits.”

 NTEU represents employees in 35 federal agencies and offices.