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Proposed Rules
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 199
Tuesday, October 19, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains notices to the public of the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
5 CFR Part 894
RIN 3206AN91

FEDVIP: Extension of Eligibility to Certain Employees on Temporary Appointments and Certain Employees on Seasonal and Intermittent Schedules; Enrollment Clarifications and Qualifying Life Events Office of Personnel Management.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
AGENCY:

The Office of Personnel Management OPM is issuing a proposed rule to expand eligibility for enrollment in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program FEDVIP to additional categories of Federal employees. This proposed rule expands eligibility for FEDVIP to certain Federal employees on temporary appointments and certain employees on seasonal and intermittent schedules that became eligible for Federal Employees Health Benefits FEHB enrollment beginning in 2015. This rule also expands access to FEDVIP benefits to certain firefighters on temporary appointments and intermittent emergency response personnel who became eligible for FEHB coverage in 2012. This proposed rule also updates the provisions on enrollment for active duty service members who become eligible for FEDVIP as uniformed service retirees pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017
FY17 NDAA. In addition, this rule proposes to add qualifying life events QLEs for enrollees who may become eligible for and enroll in dental and/or vision services from the Department of Veterans Affairs VA. Lastly, the rule also proposes technical corrections and clarifications to the part.
DATES: OPM must receive comments on or before December 20, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number and/or
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Regulatory Information Number RIN
and title, by the following method:
Federal Rulemaking Portal: https
www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
All submissions received must include the agency name and docket number or RIN for this document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing at https
www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julia Elam, Program Analyst, at julia.elam@
opm.gov or 202 6062128.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Authority for This Rulemaking FEDVIP was created as a result of the passage of the Federal Employee Dental and Vision Benefits Enhancement Act of 2004, Public Law 108496. This Act required OPM to make stand-alone dental and vision insurance available to Federal employees, retirees, and their dependents. As of August 3, 2021, FEDVIP has 5.4 million enrollees with approximately 7.3 million covered individuals. FEDVIP is available to eligible Federal civilian and U.S. Postal Service USPS employees, retirees annuitants, survivor annuitants, compensationers, and their eligible family members dependents; and certain TRICARE-eligible individuals TEIs who are authorized under Section 715 of Public Law 114328, on an enrollee-pay-all basis; there is no government contribution toward premiums.
The program is administered by OPM
in accordance with 5 U.S.C. chapters 89A and 89B and implementing regulations 5 CFR part 894. The authority to extend FEDVIP eligibility to additional groups of employees falls under OPMs regulatory authority at 5
U.S.C. 8962 and 5 U.S.C. 8992 to determine eligibility of employees based on the nature and type of employment.
Discussion of the Proposed Changes Addition of Newly Eligible Groups This rule will allow newly eligible individuals to enroll themselves and their family members in FEDVIP. Under current FEDVIP regulations at 5 CFR
894.302, Federal employees in certain
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positions are not eligible to enroll in FEDVIP. This rule proposes to extend eligibility to enroll in FEDVIP to certain temporary Federal employees, and certain Federal employees on seasonal and intermittent schedules who are eligible for the FEHB. Consistent with Internal Revenue Code section 4980H, OPM expanded eligibility to enroll in the FEHB Program to these categories of Federal employees who are expected to work 130 hours per month, for at least 90 days, at 79 FR 62325 October 17, 2014. This proposed rule expands eligibility to enroll in FEDVIP to this same group of employees under 5 CFR
part 894 and allows them to enroll in FEDVIP.
In addition, the rule would allow certain temporary employees of the United States Postal Service USPS as well as certain USPS employees on seasonal and intermittent schedules expected to work 130 hours per month, for at least 90 days, to enroll for FEDVIP
coverage as USPS does not offer separate dental and vision plans for this group.
Current FEDVIP regulations do not allow certain firefighters on temporary appointments and intermittent emergency response personnel for wildland fire protection to enroll. These employees are distinct from the categories described above because they might not meet the requirement of being expected to work 130 hours per calendar month for 90 days or more. In 2012, upon request by an employing agency, eligibility to enroll in the FEHB
Program was extended to employees in positions that provide emergency response services for wildland fire protection, and to employees performing similar types of emergency response services if approved by OPM.
This proposed rule similarly provides these employees eligibility to enroll in FEDVIP.
OPM seeks comments on how this expanded group of certain employees on temporary appointments and employees on seasonal and intermittent schedules, as well as certain firefighters and intermittent emergency response personnel, should first be offered an enrollment opportunity upon issuance of the final rule. We have proposed that enrollments for newly eligible employees would be accepted during a 60-day period from the date of issuance of the final rule, after the employing
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