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The Federal Employees' Compensation Act provides workers' compensation
coverage to three million Federal and Postal workers including wage replacement,
medical and vocational rehabilitation benefits for work-related injury and
occupational disease. FECA's low administrative cost means that overhead is
only 4% of benefits, and Federal workers compensation costs are only 1.8% of
total Federal and Postal payroll, compared to 2.3% for private insurance and
state funds.
A COST-EFFECTIVE SELF-INSURANCE SYSTEM
FECA protects three million Federal workers from economic hardship due to work
injury and illness. Included among the executive, legislative and judicial
branch employees covered by FECA are civilian Defense workers, medical workers
in Veterans' hospitals, and the 800,000 workers of the Postal Service, the
country's largest civilian employer.
FECA is a highly cost-effective self-insurance system. Overhead is low,
and
because the system is non-adversarial, the Federal government avoids
time-consuming and expensive litigation, which in some non-Federal workers'
compensation systems can amount to as much as 46% of payout.
PUTTING CUSTOMERS FIRST
FECA is a customer-service-oriented, high performance workplace. For
instance, in the tragic attack on Federal workers in Oklahoma City in April,
1995, FECA was on site within 24 hours, processing claims for survivor benefits
from bereaved families and benefits for injured Federal workers. OWCP assigned
nurses who visited injured workers in the hospital; arranged for prompt payment
of benefits and medical care; and coordinated all service with employers and the
Office of Personnel Management to ensure quality service.
After a period of difficult budget years in the 1980's with declining staff,
increasing workloads and increased benefit costs, FECA in 1992-3 began a
comprehensive review of its long-term disability roll, adopted medical cost
containment measures such as the Medicare fee schedule, and provides total case
management resulting in effective return to work for newly injured workers.
Registered nurses intervene early in the disability period and work with
physicians and agencies to return workers safely to work. These measures have
been successful in reining in costs. In the last four quarters, medical costs
declined by 6% from the previous year, and wage loss benefits also declined when
adjusted for cost-of-living increases for the second straight year.
A NON-ADVERSARIAL SYSTEM
Disputes under the FECA are resolved through informal conferences or formal
reconsideration at the district office level, through administrative hearing, or
review by the independent Employees' Compensation Appeals Board whose decision
is final. Thus employers avoid high legal costs and time-consuming litigation.
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