Federal employees' health insurance would be kept separate from Office of Personnel Management-administered plans for uninsured Americans, under an amended version of the health care bill the Senate is expected to pass this week.

The bill gives OPM responsibility to negotiate insurance plans for the uninsured, but an amendment added this weekend requires any new programs to be kept separate from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Risk pools will be separate, allaying unions' concerns that allowing the uninsured to enroll in FEHBP could drive up premiums.

OPM would have separate administrative departments to oversee FEHBP and the new quasi-governmental program, and OPM would be granted additional but unspecified funds to handle its new tasks, according to the bill.

National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley said she was pleased with the changes included in the amendment.

"As health care reform moves forward, my continuing hope is that OPM use both its authority and marketing clout to take a more aggressive posture in negotiating with insurance carriers for lower prescription drug prices for the more than 8 million federal employees, retirees and their family members covered under FEHBP," she said in a statement.

The bill would cost $841 billion over the next 10 years and cover 31 million Americans, according to the Congressional Budget Office's analysis released Dec. 19. The CBO analysis shows that proposed changes to Medicare and other government programs, as well as an excise tax on high-cost "Cadillac" insurance plans, would reduce the deficit by $132 billion over the next 10 years.

With compromises on the bill, Democrats have the 60 votes needed to pass the bill. A final vote is expected by late Christmas Eve.

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