Lawmakers press OPM on ‘critical’ staffing, funding issues in Postal insurance program
Less than two months away from this fall’s Open Season, Democrats in Congress are raising concerns that the Office of Personnel Management may not be fully prepared to administer the major health insurance program for millions of Postal Service employees and annuitants.
Top Democrats from several congressional committees sent a letter Friday to OPM Director Scott Kupor to push for answers about key issues recently identified in the new Postal Service Health Benefits program. The letter comes a few months after the agency’s inspector general office found “critical” staffing vacancies and funding issues in the PSHB’s central enrollment platform, which all program participants must use to enroll or make changes to their insurance options.
“Given the potential for severe consequences among PSHB enrollees, the Postal Service, and carriers, we urge that OPM immediately address the critical issues identified in OPM OIG’s flash report,” the lawmakers said in Friday’s letter, signed by the top Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, as well as both congressional appropriations committees.
Although OPM previously determined that it would need 11 employees on board to manage the PSHB’s central enrollment platform, currently only three of those full-time positions are filled within the agency’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). The current staffing vacancies are largely due to separations through the deferred resignation program (DRP) as well as the ongoing federal hiring freeze, according to the OIG report from July.
Following the OIG’s report, OPM assigned one contractor and three IT specialists to work on the data platform part-time. Despite the partially increased staffing, however, the lawmakers remained wary of OPM’s ability to effectively continue operations for the PSHB program.
“We remain concerned that steps taken by OPM are inadequate to fully and successfully administer the PSHB program during the upcoming open enrollment season, and thus risk the coverage of thousands of postal employees and retirees,” the lawmakers said.
An OPM spokesperson told Federal News Network that the agency is “appropriately staffed and resourced” for administering the PSHB program and managing the enrollment platform this upcoming Open Season.
“We are confident eligible enrollees will be able to successfully complete enrollment,” the spokesperson said by email. “OPM has dedicated additional resources to the PSHB call center to ensure strong customer support and responsiveness, and we have met with our vendors to confirm the necessary capacity is in place.”
The spokesperson added that the agency is staying in touch with Congress regarding the issues and plans to respond directly to the latest letter from lawmakers.
On top of the staffing issues for the data platform, the lawmakers also pointed to concerns with funding for the PSHB program. After not receiving its requested budget anomaly to support the program, OPM said it had identified additional internal savings to go toward managing the PSHB. The Democrats, though, still called out what they said were continuing budget issues with the PSHB.
“Since January, OPM has failed to provide a consistent picture of its funding needs, or a long-term plan to finance the program, including for any improvements to existing features or ongoing maintenance,” the lawmakers said. “Should operational failure occur, the PSHB program could incur significant loss of functionality with the electronic enrollment system with immediate serious consequences.”
The lawmakers additionally questioned OPM’s ability to execute more long-term plans for the insurance programs. The agency had previously intended to expand the centralized PSHB platform to eventually replace the Federal Employees Health Benefits program’s fragmented, legacy system. But with the current staffing and funding challenges, the lawmakers raised concerns about continuing with that expansion.
The concerns in Congress come just ahead of OPM’s anticipated announcement of the 2026 premium rates for both the PSHB and FEHB programs by the end of September. It also comes a couple months ahead of this year’s Open Season, when millions of federal employees and annuitants will be able to update their health enrollment options ahead of plan year 2026. This year’s Open Season will run from Nov. 10 to Dec. 8 for the 2026 plan year.
The lawmakers gave OPM until the end of the week to explain in more detail when it will staff up to the 11 employees it determined it needs to run the platform. They’re also pushing OPM for answers on its contingency plan if the data platform fails, and how it will ensure the PSHB is appropriately funded for the upcoming budget cycle.
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