SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Some fired federal employees have received even more unwelcome news in recent days. It involves their government health insurance. They thought they still had a couple of more weeks of coverage. Now some are learning they may have been cut off weeks ago. NPR's Andrea Hsu joins us. Andrea, thanks for being with us.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: Who are these employees?
HSU: Well, the people I've spoken with all work for the Department of Commerce in different areas. And they were fired back in late February and early March, you know, as part of the Trump administration's purge of newer hires or probationary employees. Now, you'll remember these firings happened so suddenly and so chaotically that there were immediate questions over whether they were legal. And, in fact, within weeks, a federal judge had ordered agencies to reinstate these workers, at least temporarily. But then, several weeks after that, an appeals court found fault with that order and voided it, and the Commerce Department fired everyone again the very next day.
SIMON: So what happened to their health insurance?
HSU: Well, that is the million-dollar question. You know, the federal government, like any big employer, has policies about benefits. And when these Commerce Department employees were first fired, many of them were told that their health insurance would end 31 days after their last pay period. That would have been April 8. But the confusion began when they were reinstated. I've spoken with about a half dozen of these employees, and each one struggled at that point to get an answer to the basic question, do we have our health insurance back?
SIMON: HR couldn't answer that?
HSU: No. You know, a lot of them have heard nothing. And for some, it was a pressing question. I spoke with Ya'el Seid-Green back in January. She had scheduled arthroscopic hip surgery for April 9, and here's what she said.
YA'EL SEID-GREEN: I was going back and forth. Do I try and reschedule it? Do I cancel it? Do I keep it? What do I do?
HSU: You know, she kept asking her supervisor. And finally, the day before her surgery, she got forwarded an email that said, you know, her insurance was being reinstated. So she showed up for her procedure. She was handed a cost estimate. She paid her $150 co-pay, and she had the surgery. But then, Scott, the very next day, April 10, while she was in her postsurgical appointment, that's when she learned she was fired again.
SIMON: And did that mean she was losing her health insurance immediately?
HSU: Well, she didn't think so. You know, again, the government has a policy of giving employees 31 days of coverage after they've separated. And also, you know, these employees - they had been paying their premiums, and insurance companies had even sent people new insurance cards after they were reinstated. So even after people had been fired again, you know, many of them kept their medical appointments.
Another person I spoke with, Keri Murphy, had foot surgery on April 17. That morning, she also called and checked with her insurer to make sure she had coverage and was told she did. But little did she know, on that very day, Ya'el Seid-Green and other Commerce Department employees were getting a new memo from the government telling them their insurance had lapsed on April 8, per that original termination date. Now, Keri Murphy, to be clear - she did not get this memo. She has still not heard anything from the government. But this week, you know, one of her group chats started blowing up with colleagues from her own office saying they had called their insurers and were told their coverage ended April 8. And now she is too scared to call her insurance company.
KERI MURPHY: This has been such a life-changing, devastating series of events that I don't know how much more bad news I can take.
SIMON: Without insurance, how will these two people pay for their surgeries?
HSU: Well, federal employees do have the option of doing the equivalent of COBRA and paying, you know, to continue their care. And Ya'el Seid-Green said she'll probably do that for a month because that cost estimate she received showed that even the negotiated insurance rate for her surgery was more than $17,000. Keri Murphy - she had her whole family on her government plan, and continuing that plan, she thinks, will cost her close to $3,000 a month. It's money she doesn't have because she just lost her job. Meanwhile, you know, she has an appointment next week to get her bandages removed, and she may have to cancel that.
SIMON: Andrea, what does the Trump administration have to say about all this?
HSU: Well, we sent detailed questions to the Commerce Department about this insurance mess and got no reply. We also reached out to the Office of Personnel Management, and they just referred us to general benefits information. I did speak with an outside expert on federal employee benefits. And she said, you know, we've never had a situation where people have been fired, rehired and fired again, so this is all unknown territory.
SIMON: NPR's Andrea Hsu. Thanks so much.
HSU: Thanks, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF OMEGAH RED'S "BOOKS OF WAR (INSTRUMENTAL)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
