The Postal Service Health Benefits program faces “critical resource issues” and the OPM has not ensured that the underlying system “will remain fully staffed, supported and funded” in light of OPM’s downsizing and reorganization, an inspector general audit has said.
OPM further does not have “a contingency plan to ensure continuity of operations for the PSHB program in the absence of secure funding,” leaving the program at risk of being unable to process open season enrollment decisions or enrollment changes due to life events, it said.
The “flash report” from the IG comes as the PSHB is in the middle of its first year of operation as a carve-out from the FEHB for Postal Service employees and retirees, and about four months before the open season for enrollment decisions for the 2026 plan year.
