The Daily News is inviting readers to ask questions about health care reform. Today’s question comes from Lisa Waldvogel of Longview.

Question: I have heard that employees of the federal government would not participate in the proposed health care plan. True?

Remember that all health reform proposals allow employees to keep the plans they have now. Most federal employees are enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the nation’s largest employer-sponsored health plan. It offers workers numerous options for health insurance.

Over its 50-year history, the program has kept participation high, administrative costs low and premiums affordable. FEHBP premiums increased an average of 7 percent in 2009, much less than many employer-sponsored health insurance programs. Given FEHBP’s track record, it seems unlikely many federal workers would switch.

House Bill 3200 — the reform bill — might have two major consequences for federal workers: One, like all other Americans, they would no longer have copays for preventive care. Two, under the bill the government may have to extend FEHBP coverage to seasonal or temporary employees — who currently are ineligible for the plan.

FEHBP has been so successful lawmakers have considered using it as a model for health care reform. H.B. 3200 would set up a health insurance exchange. Like FEHBP, it would be a marketplace of insurance plans for individuals and smaller employers to choose from.

The bill currently does not open up FEHBP to the public, as was proposed during the previous health care reform effort in 1994.

Sources: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Federal Times

Have a health reform question? E-mail it to andre@tdn.com