United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter 

Number: 12-203 Date: July 17, 2012 

Subject: Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Coverage for Certain 

 Firefighters 

 

Background and Purpose

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has published an interim final rule which 

authorizes eligibility to enroll for coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits 

Program (FEHBP) for employees who are in positions identified by OPM as providing 

emergency response services for wildland fire protection. Agencies may enroll these 

employees immediately upon the effective date of the interim final rule, July 17, 2012. 

Agencies are requested to make every effort to provide for a simple process for 

firefighters to enroll and to expedite these enrollments. 

This year, the federal government has a critical need to hire and quickly deploy qualified 

firefighters and other fire protection personnel to areas of the country where disasters 

caused by man or nature require their services. The federal agencies that routinely deploy 

firefighters to respond to these disasters have used temporary appointment authorities to 

bring firefighting personnel on board, as these authorities provide them the flexibility 

they need to quickly increase their firefighting workforce to address fire emergencies and 

then to decrease the workforce when the emergencies are resolved.

OPM has broad authority to prescribe the conditions under which employees are eligible 

to enroll in the FEHBP. OPM has amended its regulations at Section 890.102 by adding 

the following paragraphs (h) and (i):

(h) Notwithstanding paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) of this section, an employee who 

is in a position identified by OPM that provides emergency response services for 

wildland fire protection is eligible to be enrolled in a health benefits plan under 

this chapter. 

(i) Notwithstanding paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) of this section, upon request by 

the employing agency, OPM may grant eligibility to employees performing 

similar types of emergency response services to enroll in a health benefits plan 

under this chapter. 
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This change provides the opportunity for temporary firefighters and fire protection 

personnel, who do not generally qualify for coverage, to obtain FEHBP coverage for 

themselves and their families. Agencies may make enrollments effective July 17, 2012 

unless the firefighter requests that his or her enrollment take effect at the beginning of the 

next pay period after he or she submits an election form.

Which Employees Are Affected

The following temporary positions, which provide emergency response services, are covered for 

purposes of 5 CFR 890.102(h):

Temporary positions (including supervisory positions) the duties of which include very 

high risk or life threatening work to control and extinguish wildland fires, to rescue 

persons endangered by wildland fires, or to reduce or eliminate potential fire hazards, or 

involving the provision of direct on-site assistance to others engaged in such work. 

To assist you in determining who should be covered, we have identified the following series and 

positions that are often used for firefighting personnel:

Series Position

462 Forestry Technicians

455 Range Technicians

401 Biological Science/Specialists

454 Rangeland Management

2151 Dispatcher

5201 Miscellaneous Occupation

0081 Fire Protection and Prevention 

This list is not exclusive, nor should coverage necessarily be extended to all employees 

within one of these occupations. Rather, in determining whether to extend health benefits 

coverage for employees, agencies should focus on the duties performed, regardless of the 

position’s title, occupational series, grade level or geographic location. 

How to Enroll Temporary Employees 

To expedite the enrollment of these firefighters, agencies may accept the SF 2809 

enrollment form; accept a belated enrollment under 5 CFR 890.301(c); or accept an 

enrollment by proxy under 5 CFR 890.301(d). 

Agencies are requested to annotate in the Remarks section on the SF 2809 enrollment 

form that the enrollment is for temporary firefighters eligible for FEHBP coverage under 

5 CFR 890.102(h). 
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Additional information 

OPM also recognizes there may be other groups of employees not currently covered by 

the FEHBP because of the temporary nature of their appointments, but who perform 

emergency response services similar to those performed by firefighting personnel. 

Therefore, we have amended our regulation at 5 CFR 890.102(i) to permit agencies to 

request that OPM extend FEHBP coverage to such employees. 

OPM intends to narrowly apply this provision for only those positions whereby 

employees are engaged in very high risk or life threatening emergency response services 

similar to the services being performed by those responding to the wildfires (e.g., and 

only when requested by their employing agencies. OPM will be issuing further guidance 

on the factors it will consider in reviewing such requests. 

For questions about affected positions, please contact Employee Services, at 

Classification and Assessment Policy, fedclass@opm.gov, 202-606-3600. For questions 

about the FEHB Program, please contact Michael Kaszynski, Senior Policy Analyst at 

202-606-0004 or email him at Michael.Kaszynski@opm.gov. Agency headquarters 

offices may also send questions concerning interpretation and technical guidance on 

FEHBP law, regulations and policy to fehb@opm.gov. Agency field offices should 

contact their headquarters. Employees should direct questions to their Human Resources 

Office.

 Sincerely,

John O’ Brien 

Director

Healthcare and Insurance