The Office of Personnel Management is giving many employees in its healthcare and insurance division another chance to accept voluntary incentives and leave their jobs, ahead of their busy season.<\/p>\n
OPM told employees in its healthcare and insurance (H&I) division on Monday that most of them will have another shot at opting into the deferred resignation program. Employees who apply and are accepted by OPM will go on paid administrative leave for six months before separating from the agency.<\/p>\n
Most of OPM\u2019s healthcare and insurance division employees will also be eligible for early retirement. Federal employees are eligible for early retirement if they have 20 years of service at age 50, or 25 years of service at any age. Eligible employees are allowed to voluntarily retire and earn an immediate annuity.<\/p>\n
Eligible employees have until 5 p.m. Eastern on July 13 to accept the DRP or Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) offers. OPM employees approved for the DRP program will go on paid administrative leave starting Aug. 31, 2026, and will officially separate from the agency on March 1, 2027.<\/p>\n
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OPM said these voluntary separation incentives are being offered ahead of an \u201corganizational change\u201d for its healthcare and insurance division. Last month, Shane Stevens, the division\u2019s former top official, announced he was voluntarily resigning from OPM.<\/a><\/p>\n These changes come a few months ahead of OPM\u2019s busy Open Season<\/a>, a one-month period in which federal and Postal Service employees can make changes to their healthcare plans. Open Season starts in November and ends in December. Health plan changes made by federal and postal employees during this period go into effect in January.<\/p>\n James Muetzel, a senior advisor for healthcare and insurance at OPM, told employees in an email that the agency is offering these voluntary separation incentives \u201cbefore considering any involuntary actions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese programs are intended to provide employees with meaningful choices and support for those who choose a transition as H&I undergoes organizational change,\u201d Muetzel wrote in an email obtained by Federal News Network. \u201cWhile the timeframe for the final reshaping of H&I has not been finalized, necessary steps for reimagining H&I will occur in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the email, employees who take the DRP offer will not be affected by any future reduction in force that might occur during the deferred resignation period. Employees will continue to receive their pay and benefits until their March 1 separation date.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know, our agency has a responsibility to ensure that our structure, staffing, and resources are fully aligned with the administration\u2019s priorities and the work we are statutorily required to perform,\u201d Muetzel wrote. \u201cTo that end, we are undertaking a careful review of H&I to ensure we are positioned to meet those obligations effectively, both now and in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n According to an email obtained by Federal News Network, employees in OPM\u2019s Office of the Actuaries (OA) and Systems Development and Implementation (SDI) are excluded from these voluntary separation offers. An OPM spokesperson declined to comment. Employees who opt into the DRP offer will not receive a performance award for fiscal 2026, since they will go on leave before the rating period ends.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n OPM, in a proposed rule also issued Monday<\/a>, is looking to update its regulations to appropriate uses of administrative leave governmentwide, including for \u201cworkforce realignment\u201d initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cThe use of administrative leave in connection with deferred resignation programs and other workforce restructuring initiatives is particularly important. These programs facilitate workforce realignment efforts that will lead to a leaner, less expensive, more efficient, and more mission-focused federal workforce,\u201d OPM wrote in its proposed rule. \u201cWhile there is a temporary cost to providing administrative leave, these programs can generate large long-term savings by reducing federal staffing levels. They can reduce the need to apply administratively burdensome and disruptive reduction-in-force procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent report from the nonprofit Public Citizen<\/a> estimates that the Trump administration paid at least $11 billion to approximately 140,000 federal employees to go on paid administrative leave as part of the deferred resignation program.<\/p>\n OPM\u2019s proposed rule also states that each agency has \u201csole and exclusive discretion\u201d in deciding whether to accept or deny an employee\u2019s request to withdraw their resignation before it goes into effect. The proposed rule states that an employee\u2019s receipt of benefits under a deferred resignation agreement \u201cis a valid reason to deny an employee\u2019s request to withdraw a resignation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen an employee has agreed to resign on a future date and to receive paid leave benefits prior to that date, an agency has good reasons to deny a resignation withdrawal request,\u201d OPM wrote.<\/p>\n The IRS rescinded hundreds of deferred resignation offers<\/a> last year \u201cto fill critical vacancies,\u201d but the agency refused employees\u2019 requests to rescind their resignations before they went into effect, according to the National Treasury Employees Union.<\/a><\/p>\n OPM isn\u2019t the only agency incentivizing employees to leave their jobs. The Small Business Administration recently gave its employees another chance to accept the DRP offer. According to a spokesperson at the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents SBA employees, eligible employees had until June 22 to opt into the offer.<\/p>\n An SBA spokesperson confirmed that the agency offered employees another shot at the DRP and early retirement following its recent reorganization announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agency is coordinating directly with employees as to the start date of their respective administrative leave start dates,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n Earlier this year, OPM called on federal health carriers<\/a> to reduce costs while promoting a \u201cwell care\u201d model in the federal insurance marketplace. In its March 31 call letter<\/a>, OPM emphasized that members of Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits plans should take a \u201cmore active role\u201d in their health. The agency also encouraged carriers to expand non-pharmaceutical health coverage, which OPM said will \u201cprevent chronic conditions and drive meaningful cost savings.\u201d<\/p>\n Health plan participants have faced significant cost spikes over the last several years.\u00a0For 2026<\/a>, enrollees in FEHB and PSHB began paying an average of 12.3% and 11.3% more, respectively, toward their health insurance premiums.<\/p>\n Amid the surging expenses, OPM is encouraging carriers to find \u201cinnovative\u201d ways to cut costs while maintaining \u201ccomprehensive\u201d coverage. That can include strategies such as \u201csite of care optimization\u201d\u2014 or in other words, incentivizing plan members to go to lower-cost medical care facilities whenever possible.<\/p>\n Notably, OPM\u2019s call letter, published on March 31, came several weeks behind the usual schedule of releasing the letter in January or February.<\/p>\n