{"id":27656,"date":"2019-11-18T11:24:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T16:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=27656"},"modified":"2019-11-18T11:24:29","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T16:24:29","slug":"usps-employees-see-savings-from-benefits-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2019\/11\/18\/usps-employees-see-savings-from-benefits-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"USPS employees see savings from benefits changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

USPS News Link<\/a> 11\/18\/19 – When Gieti Mojadidi joined the Postal Service four years ago, she signed up for health benefits and didn\u2019t give it another thought.<\/p>\n

Last fall, as open season approached, Mojadidi, an organization design consultant at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC, heard that premiums for her plan, CareFirst, were going up.<\/p>\n

That prompted her to use the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program\u00a0plan comparison tool<\/a><\/i>, and what she learned amazed her; by switching to a different plan, BlueCross BlueShield Basic, to cover herself and her family, she would save $1,607.32 in premiums during the following year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave myself a raise,\u201d Mojadidi said. \u201cI had chosen my initial plan because I was familiar with it, and I never used the comparison tool before. Now I tell everyone to check it out, because it\u2019s easy to see the pros and cons of various plans, and you can benefit financially from it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mojadidi is one of approximately 42,000 USPS employees who made changes to their benefits during last year\u2019s open season, federal workers\u2019 once-a-year opportunity to\u00a0adjust their health coverage or choose a new plan<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

On average, these employees are on track to save $2,020 this year \u2014 or about $78 each pay period.<\/p>\n

USPS wants more employees to\u00a0evaluate their options<\/a><\/i>\u00a0during this year\u2019s open season, which is Nov. 11-Dec. 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth benefits are vitally important to employees\u2019 well-being,\u201d said Chief Human Resources Officer Isaac Cronkhite. \u201cBut there isn\u2019t a one-size-fits-all plan, and paying more doesn\u2019t always mean getting the best coverage for your situation. Taking the time to do your homework will ensure you\u2019re getting the right benefits at the right price.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Open Season LiteBlue page<\/a><\/i>\u00a0has more information, including a link to Checkbook\u2019s Guide to Health Plans, another tool that allows employees to compare available options.<\/p>\n

Since changing her benefits last year, Mojadidi has been happier with her deductibles, and she has enjoyed the peace of mind that came with adding dental and vision benefits, as well.<\/p>\n

The bottom line?<\/p>\n

\u201cMore coverage for less money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USPS News Link 11\/18\/19 – When Gieti Mojadidi joined the Postal Service four years ago, she signed up for health benefits and didn\u2019t give it another thought. Last fall, as open season approached, Mojadidi, an organization design consultant at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC, heard that premiums for her plan, CareFirst, were going up. That […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27657,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27656\/revisions\/27657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}