NU Online News Service

The government is trying to protect members of its benefits program against future Katrina-like catastrophes.

The federal Office of Personnel Management is seeking the authority to shift employees into the standard option of the nationwide Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service benefit plan automatically if a disaster forces an emergency discontinuance of their usual health plans and there is no practical way to notify the affected employees about the need to change health plans.

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Allison Bell

Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.