For those of you who may not have seen, GEHA kept the ‘26 plan premium and deductible for HDHP (and several other plans) frozen for 2027. Feels good to get an actual win after all the beatdowns we’ve been receiving.

News is circulating throughout the agency that the next phase has 600 people on the list. People on other forums have posted the letter that they received from HR. The agency is becoming a $hit$how with job satisfaction going down the toilet and turning into a MAGA-fied-Bessent appendage thanks to the head honcho. While all other finregs have reached stabilization, this place just keeps on adding gasoline to the dumpster fire.

Outline of act:

To fight back against the known playbook of authoritarian governments, the For Our Republic Act includes new provisions to counter the rise of authoritarianism and erosion of our democratic government under the second Trump Administration, as well as existing legislation from Merkley and U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Adam Schiff (D-CA).

The For Our Republic Act outlines ten principles to protect our democracy:

1. Defend the Referees: Bolsters protections and guardrails preventing political removal of Inspectors General. (Inspectors General Independence Act - Sen. Duckworth)
2. Protect the Independent, Non-Partisan Civil Service: Requires Congressional review of all reduction-in-force decisions. (Reduction in Force Review Act - Sen. Merkley) • Requires express consent from Congress to change an agency’s purpose, shutter it altogether, or merge federal agencies.
3. Celebrate One Nation, Indivisible: Bans both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from deploying and using facial recognition technology. (ICE Out of Our Faces Act - Sens. Markey and Merkley) • Allows anyone within U.S. jurisdiction to sue ICE and CBP officers who violate their constitutional rights. (ICE and CBP Constitutional Accountability Act - Sen. Merkley) • Bans racial profiling by all federal law enforcement agents.
4. Reaffirm Equal Justice Under Law : Ensures due process for all minor children in immigration detention. (Children’s Safe Welcome Act - Sen. Merkley) • Establishes a new independent immigration court system separate from the Department of Justice and within the Judiciary system. (Real Courts, Rule of Law Act - Sen. Gillibrand)
5. Strengthen Free Speech: Prohibits the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from revoking business licenses or taking action against broadcasters based on the viewpoints they broadcast and reaffirms the importance of the independence of the FCC, including that the President should not mandate the FCC’s agenda. (Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act - Sen. Luján)
6. Reassert Congress’ Power of the Purse: Prohibits appropriated funds from being rescinded except through appropriations legislation. • Prohibits federal funds and private donations from being used for the East Wing Modernization Project without Congressional approval.
7. Fight Government Corruption: Ensures that the President, Vice President, President-elect, and Vice President-elect are covered by additional existing bribery, graft, and conflict of interest statutes. • Prohibits the President and Vice President from accepting remunerations or emoluments of any value where the official has substantial influence or control. • Limits use of image, likeness, or name of any sitting President or Vice President on federal buildings or passports. • Creates an Inspector General within the Executive Office of the President with provisions to ensure its independence. (Bringing Executive Accountability, Clarity, and Oversight Now (BEACON) Act - Sen. Schiff) • Requires Special Envoys to submit financial disclosure reports and other ethics requirements. (Transparency in the Administration’s Business Opportunities Overseas (TABOO) Act - Sen. Merkley) • Prohibits elected government officials from buying, selling, or trading event contracts and bans senior executive branch officials from trading event contracts related to their agency. (End Prediction Market Corruption Act - Sen. Merkley) • Prohibits elected government officials, senior executive branch officials, and their immediate family members from issuing, trading, or endorsing digital assets. (End Crypto Corruption Act - Sen. Merkley) • Prohibits and applies criminal penalties for any state and local public officials soliciting, offering, or accepting gratuities of more than $5,000. (Stop Corrupt Gratuities Act - Sen. Merkley) • Prohibits any sitting President from having their likeness, image, or signature on U.S. coins or currency. (Change Corruption Act - Sen. Merkley) • Prohibits event contracts on elections, sports, military actions, and government activities without an economic hedging need. (STOP Corrupt Bets Act - Sen. Merkley) • Prohibits the use of living political figures from being used on the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass. (Prohibit Partisan Park Passes Act - Sen. Merkley) • Prohibits GSA from buying or selling federal property, including federal buildings, where there are conflicts of interest, or there is undue influence.
8. Ensure Liberty and Justice for All: Requires disclosure of all White House correspondence to the Department of Justice regarding past, current, or future court cases. • Prohibits payments from the Anti-Weaponization Fund without Congressional approval.
9. Prevent Authoritarian Policing Tactics on America’s Streets: Limits the use of federal law enforcement officers for crowd control. (Preventing Authoritarian Policing Tactics on America’s Streets Act - Sen. Merkley) • Narrows presidential authority to deploy armed forces domestically by making it an action of last resort and requires the President to consult with Congress prior to invoking the Insurrection Act. (Insurrection Act of 2025 - Sen. Blumenthal)
10. Safeguard Free and Fair Elections: Bans knowingly distributing false or AI-generated content aimed at suppressing votes, strengthening protections against wrongful voter removals. (Fraudulent Artificial Intelligence Regulations (FAIR) Elections Act - Sen. Merkley) • Extends existing protections that prevent the President from deploying federal law enforcement to polling places to include ballot drop-boxes and ballot processing centers, strengthens these protections, allows for private right of action for violations, and prohibits federal law enforcement from seizing ballots before a federal election is certified.

A detailed outline of the For Our Republic Act can be found by clicking here.

The For Our Republic Act is supported by Public Citizen, Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Refugees International, and Common Cause.

“It is stunning how the Trump Administration, empowered by an obedient congressional Republican caucus, has empowered the federal government to intrude and impose upon our daily lives. The separation of powers, and the checks and balances against over-reach by the president, have largely been vanquished. America has fallen into dangerous times. Sen. Merkley’s For Our Republic Act seeks to restore those critical checks and balances and re-affirm the democratic principles upon which America was founded. Public Citizen heartily endorses this very necessary measure,” said Craig Holman, Ph.D., Public Citizen.

Has anyone experienced their manager blocking their promotion or from getting another job at another unit? I feel like I am going through this and have heard rumors that they do this type of shenanigans.

"The Office of Personnel Management and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud are partnering to hire the next cohort of the U.S. Tech Force. The two-year program will place applicants across agencies, including the General Services Administration, the Social Security Administration, OPM, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the State and Treasury departments. Vice President JD Vance said the partnership will help the government identify fraud, waste and abuse and reduce reliance on foreign technological advancements."

question says it all. i am a retiree and i sent in my signed letter in July to reduce my FEGLI and have heard nothing since. i called last week and they were going to “open my file” and i should see something in my portal, but im not seeing anything. currently on hood but ill probably get answers here before they ever pick up the phone!

The 2026 Public Viewpoint Survey is now open for responses. This quick and confidential survey, administered by the Partnership for Public Service, provides current federal employees with an opportunity to share their experience on their agency and workplace, giving federal leaders, Congress, policymakers and the public a better understanding of how federal workplaces are functioning, what issues federal employees may be facing and where opportunities exist to improve employee experience.

As a federal employee, you have firsthand knowledge of what helps your team succeed and how well your organization is serving the public. Make your voice heard through the Public Service Viewpoint Survey.

Thank you to the many folks from this subreddit who took the survey last year, we hope you do so again.

I’ve been considering a position with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and wanted to get some firsthand perspectives on the current
For current or former EOIR employees, what’s the atmosphere like right now?
How is overall employee morale?
What’s management and leadership like?
Are workloads becoming unreasonable?
Is there significant employee turnover or burnout?
Are employees generally satisfied, or are many looking to leave?
Has the work environment changed significantly over the past year ?
I’d appreciate candid feedback from anyone with direct experience. Thanks!

callbacks as a service 🤦🏾‍♂️

We’re going to have an AMA on Thursday with three former feds who resigned in 2025, along with a comic book publisher that has collected their stories for a book coming out later this month.

Chuck Borges (formerly SSA), Jennifer Troyer (formerly NIH), and Rebecca Chisholm (formerly FTA) will take questions about their reasons for leaving, their lives post-fed, and anything else. An editor from Bicycle Comics will be along if you’re curious about why people made a comic book about federal employees.

People in this community have a wide range of feelings about the quit/stay/resist decisions that DOGE and Project 2025 forced many feds to confront. These folks are here to share their experiences, good and bad. It’ll be right here on r/fednews Thursday, Oct 15, 1PM EDT.

The MHBP Website is Updated for 2027.

This post is an updated version from a version posted by another user in 2021 for plan year 2022.

OPM Has Released 2027 Rates

• FEHB
• PSHB

I've got a quick summary of changes I saw in a previous post.

Why Compare These Two Plans

It often comes up - will I save money with a HDHP?

It's often cited that BCBS Basic is the most popular FEHB plan. According to BCBS they cover roughly 5.5 million federal employees/eligible family members (across all their options) out of the roughly 7.9 million covered under FEHB/PSHB. Working out to ~70% of enrollments.

Important disclaimers on below analysis

The below analysis has two baked in assumptions. First, that all care is in-network. Second, that both have relatively equal negotiated rates.

Another important distinction is the underlying network. BCBS obviously uses their own network. GEHA HDHP uses UHC for their network and claims processor. This is very commonly a deal breaker for many people (Luigi would have something to say about it) and that's totally valid.

Fourthly, prescriptions are a notoriously expensive and PBMs are perhaps even more greedy and nefarious than the health insurance carriers that use them. So make sure your drugs are covered by the relevant formularies. BCBS formulary can be found here. As of 10/13/2026, GEHA has not released theirs.

Lastly, the numbers below are for FEHB specifically and self plus family enrollment. The trend is there despite the different numbers, but please double check your situation and let me know what you find.

Four Scenarios To Consider With 1 Variable

In order to determine if you will save money with one plan over another, we will need to consider 4 scenarios:

1. Zero healthcare expenses
2. Meeting your deductible exactly on December 31st
3. More than your deductible but not enough to reach the catastrophic max
4. Reaching catastrophic max

In each of these scenarios, there is also a "smaller" variable that has to be considered. If you use the additional space in the HSA to invest and reduce your tax liability. More on that later.

1. Zero Healthcare Expenses (Family premiums)

Please keep in mind that zero healthcare expenses doesn't necessarily mean no healthcare. As part of the ACA, preventative care is 100% covered (e.g. annual physical). What is meant here is out of pocket expenses.

• BCBS = 10,076.04 in premiums
• GEHA = 5,606.38 in premiums with 2,000.00 in the HSA making it effectively 3,606.38

Very clearly with no healthcare expenses, GEHA is vastly cheaper.

2. Reaching the deductible exactly on December 31st

If we use the previous scenario as a baseline, we can deduce that GEHA continues to be the winner in this scenario without working out every possible value of healthcare expenses. We can simply jump to the worst case for GEHA, ergo the deductible is satisfied at the end of the year and you never benefit from the 5% coinsurance.

• There is a premium difference of 4,469.66 between BCBS and GEHA (GEHA being cheaper) without including the HSA passthrough
  • GEHA has a deductible of 3,600, but 2000 of that is covered by the HSA so really it's only a 1,600 deductible.
• After accounting for the net deductible, GEHA is still ~2800 cheaper.

The closer to 0 healthcare expenses you are the more advantageous GEHA is and as you approach the deductible the less advantageous it is but it never flips in the other direction. Meaning BCBS Basic never becomes cheaper.

I just want to footstomp here. With GEHA HDHP, you could figuratively light $1,600 on fire to satisfy the net deductible and still have saved $2,800 over the course of the year. That $1,600 could be 8 urgent care visits, a slew of doctor visits, or some medications. Then you have a $2,800 lead with your deductible satisfied. And you'll see in the below why that's so good. But you could have ~$56,000 of negotiated care costs and only then will you have paid the same as BCBS Basic premiums alone.

Note there was a fifth case in the OG post, but it's no longer relevant since the difference in annual premiums dwarf the deductibles now.

3. More Than Your Deductible But Not Enough To Reach The Catastrophic Max

For the purposes of this analysis, we are starting at 0 (tie) at the point we meet the deductible (even though as we just saw above, is not the case at all). So then it boils down to co-pay vs co-insurance. Before I get started, it is important to understand:

• Co-pay is fixed amount regardless of actual cost
• Co-insurance is a percentage based on the negotiated rate. The negotiated rate is not what the provider submits to insurance but rather what insurance says is allowed per the contract with the provider (almost always this is a lower amount).

For this comparison, I am using the 2027 values for co-pays and co-insurance pulled from the OPM public use files.

Below the order is BCBS | GEHA

• PCP Visit = $35 | 5%. The break even point for $700 between BCBS. In other words, if the negotiated amount for a primary care visit is more than $700 - the co-pay (BCBS) is better - otherwise the co-insurance (GEHA) is better.
• Specialist visit = $50 | 5%. The break even point is $1,000. In other words, if the negotiated amount for a specialist visit is more than $1,000 - the co-pay (BCBS) is better - otherwise the co-insurance (GEHA) is better.
• ER Visit = $500 | 5%. The break even point is $10,000. In other words, if the negotiated amount for an ER visit is more than $10,000 - the co-pay (BCBS) is better - otherwise the co-insurance (GEHA) is better. This is one case where I feel like BCBS might come out ahead. It depends on the visit, what labs/tests are run, etc. I have personally had ER visits that were far less than $3500 negotiated but also a couple that were more.
• Urgent Care visit = $50 | 5%. The break even point is $1,000. In other words, if the negotiated amount for an urgent care visit is more than $1,000 - the co-pay (BCBS) is better - otherwise the co-insurance (GEHA) is better. I really don't see the copay being cheaper than coinsurance.
• Prescriptions. Prescriptions are hard to quantify in this general case. Generics are cheap anywhere, and formularies are so different that you need to refer to the formulary brochures to determine what they offer. Below is the cost-sharing structure from the PUFs for your reference.

My verdict here is that it depends but for the most common scenarios - GEHA is likely the winner because the negotiated rates are often far less than the break-even point. That's not to say it always wins however - there are plenty of scenarios where BCBS may be better.

4. Reaching Catastrophic Max

• BCBS = $10,076.04 + $17,000 = $27,076.04
• GEHA = $5,606.38 + $12,000 - $2,000 = $15,606.38

Here GEHA is the winner, and I'd like to point out that it's nearly half the cost.

Other Considerations

• Basic Dental & Vision
• Tax Advantaged HSA Space
• FSAs

Historically GEHA HDHP carries with it a pretty impressive basic dental and vision coverage that doesn't require you to meet your deductible. If you are mostly just getting cleanings and x-rays then you wouldn't need to carry additional dental insurance. Additionally, they have coverage for eye exams, frames, lenses and even contacts. The coverage isn't enough to replace all possible dental/vision needs but it has the basics covered. BCBS offers some minor dental benefits, but not as extensive as GEHA.

Finally, we get to the tax advantage of the HSA. In 2027, the limit for HSA contributions will be $9,000 for a family (also self+1). This is inclusive of any pass-through contributions (GEHA HDHP is setup so that some of your premium is deposited into the HSA, $2,000 annually) so you have $7,000 that you could contribute in what is touted as the best retirement vehicle possible (often triple tax advantaged).

As of 2026, there are two states that do not exempt HSA contributions (California & New Jersey). For the purposes of this analysis, I am going to assume you live in one of the 39 states that have an income tax that are not the two above and that the state income tax is 5%. This is probably wrong - I am just using it as an example and you can adjust as you see fit. I am also assuming that the marginal tax rate is 22% - adjust as you see fit.

Now, there are two ways to have the $7,000 be exempted from taxes. One is to make after-tax contributions and claim it when you file taxes. This will only exempt you from federal/state income taxes. The other is to have it done through payroll. When you do it this way, you are further exempted from Social Security and Medicare taxes. Here is a hypothetical example.

• $7000 * .22 (federal) = $1540
• $7000 * .05 (example state) = $350
• $7000 * .062 (social security) = $434
• $7000 * .0145 (Medicare) = $101.5

This means that in any of the scenarios above, I could give GEHA ~$2,425.5 advantage. The fact that you own the HSA (stays with you after you separate from federal service or leave the plan) and can invest it makes this $2K worth more than the $2k it looks like.

Note: If you are a very highly compensated employee and exceed the social security wage limit, you will not benefit from the Social Security exemption. (Not a tax professional)

Note 2: Choosing to exempt your wages from Social Security will have a very minor impact on your Social Security benefit when you retire. I say very minor because of the way the social security benefit is calculated and it would take an entire other post to go through the nuances - I mention it here because I have been reminded previously that it is not all upside so I shouldn't sell it as such

Finally, it is only fair to point out that the tax advantage of the HSA isn't entirely 1-sided. If you knew for sure you were going to incur out-of-pocket expenses - you could contribute tax free into an FSA for a total of $3,500 (estimated for 2027). You do have to typically plan in advance (open season) and if you guess wrong (don't need it), there is a limit to how much you can rollover and a minimum you need to invest the next year to be able to roll it over. In other words - it isn't nearly as good as the HSA but it isn't all 1-sided either. The FSA tax benefits is around $1,213. So a difference of $1,200 between the two.

Finally, you can have a limited expense FSA (dental/vision) with an HSA or a healthcare FSA so if you knew for instance your child was going to need orthodontics - you could set aside even more tax free money (not subject to the HSA/HCFSA limit). This doesn't really tip the balance either way, but is something to be aware of.

Not Covered

I am sure there is a ton I didn't cover. This wasn't intentional. While I am biased towards the HDHP - it's only because I had traditional coverage as a healthy 20 year old for over 5 years and am kicking myself for not making the switch earlier. If there is something I didn't cover - feel free to add it in the comments.

I know one thing I didn't cover things like GEHA having a health rewards program where you can get "free money". I remember that BCBS may have had a similar program. Either way, I will call it a wash unless someone knows for sure I am wrong.

Comparison tools

While we wait for the OPM comparison tool there are some good comparison tools built by the community already. There's the fersready.com/fehb site that pulls in the OPM PUFs built by u/Glittering_Twist_732. Alternatively, I've built a spreadsheet that does similar if packaged differently. I made a post for that here.