In this task, you are given text for US Congressional and California state bills, your task is to generate a summary for this bill.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ''Federal Health
Program Benefit Change Accountability Act''.
(b) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
(1) effective beginning in 1996, Federal retirees enrolled
in the Governmentwide service benefit plan under chapter 89 of
title 5, United States Code, are subject to a copayment for
prescription drugs obtained from a retail pharmacy, but are
exempt from such copayment if they instead use a plan's mail
order pharmacy;
(2) that difference in policy--
(A) increases out-of-pocket health care costs for
and imposes financial penalties on the large majority
of Federal retirees who use their local pharmacies to
have prescriptions filled;
(B) fails to recognize the integral role of local
pharmacies in contributing to the health of their
patrons, such as through face-to-face counseling;
(C) unfairly discriminates in favor of out-of-state
mail order pharmacies at the expense of local retail
pharmacies;
(D) transfers millions of dollars in wages and tax
revenues out of State, and therefore hurts local
economies and small businesses; and
(E) reduces the accessibility of local pharmacies
for all individuals, particularly those living in rural
areas;
(3) in making this major change, it appears that the Office
of Personnel Management--
(A) did not determine the impact on the quality of
pharmacy care provided to Federal retirees, who use a
disproportionate share of prescription medications, but
instead focused primarily on economic considerations;
(B) did not consider alternative cost containment
options in the prescription drug program, which has
disproportionately focused its cost containment
approaches on retail pharmacies;
(C) did not determine, and has not yet
demonstrated, whether the anticipated savings result
from lower costs of mail order drug products or because
retirees are simply paying more in copayments for their
prescription at local pharmacies;
(D) did not determine whether such change was
consistent with the structure of current private market
prescription drug programs, which traditionally give
retirees a fair economic choice of using mail order
pharmacies or retail pharmacies;
(E) did not assess the ability of the contractor to
fulfill the terms of the contract for mail order
prescriptions, given that thousands of retirees were
inconvenienced when the mail order pharmacies were
unable to meet the demand for prescriptions; and
(F) did not assess the impact of the change on the
overall health care marketplace, given that the Office
of Personnel Management is a major payor of health care
services and products; and
(4) the Office of Personnel Management should be held more
accountable for major changes made in Federal health care
program benefit designs, and should be required to justify the
impact of such changes in terms of cost savings, access, and
quality of care, before such changes are implemented.

SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

(a) In General.--Section 8910 of title 5, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
''(e)(1) The Office shall prepare an annual report in which it
shall describe, to the extent practicable, any substantial changes in
maximums, limitations, exclusions, or other definitions of benefits
that it intends to propose for implementation in the upcoming contract
year.
''(2) Included in a report under this subsection shall be, with
respect to each such change--
''(A) a statement of justification for the change;
''(B) an analysis of the anticipated savings, to the extent
that the change would be justified on the basis of cost
savings, as well as any alternative options considered and the
reasons why the proposed change is considered preferable;
''(C) a description of the anticipated impact of the
proposed change on access to and quality of care, and on costs
to enrollees likely to be affected;
''(D) an assessment of the ability of carriers to implement
the proposed change in a manner that is efficient and that
promotes the interests referred to in subparagraph (C); and
''(E) an analysis of the anticipated economic impact of the
proposed change with respect to providers and enrollees,
respectively.
''(3) The Office shall have each report under this subsection
published in the Federal Register, and shall submit a copy of each such
report to both Houses of Congress, as early in the year as possible,
consistent with the goal of affording interested persons a meaningful
opportunity to comment.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to changes taking effect in any contract year
beginning later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
Federal Health Program Benefit Change Accountability Act - Amends Federal law to require that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prepare an annual report concerning the health benefits program for Federal employees which shall describe any substantial changes in maximums, limitations, exclusions, or other definitions of benefits that it intends to propose for implementation in the upcoming contract year. Directs that OPM publish each report in the Federal Register and submit a copy of each such report to both Houses of the Congress as early in the year as possible.