March 04, 2014

President Obama unveiled his Fiscal Year 2015 Budget and it includes a number of proposals that relate to the Postal Service. 

• Refund the Postal Service the projected Federal Employees Retirement System overpayment of $5 billion, over a 2-year period
• Recalculate the USPS retiree health liability and restructure the payments, which the Administration projects will provide the agency with about $9 billion in relief through FY 2016
• Provide USPS authority to reduce mail frequency to 5-days a week
• Permit the USPS to shift to curbside and centralized delivery, and codify POSTPlan
• Extend the 4.3% exigent postage rate increase permanently, rather than ending it in January 2016

In addition, the President’s budget would permit the Office of Personnel Management to:

• Offer FEHBP coverage for domestic partners of Federal and postal employees and retirees, beginning in 2016
• Contract with Preferred Provider health plans, as part of the FEHBP
• Contract directly with pharmaceutical providers
• Permit FEHBP premium adjustments based on participant’s tobacco use and/or enrollment in a wellness program

Finally, the President’s budget does not propose to implement the so-called chained-CPI.

Source: NAPUS