Lawsuit Filed against Office of Group Benefits Thrown Out

It may be seen as a victory for state workers and a slap at non-government contractors.

District Court Judge Timothy Kelly threw out a lawsuit filed against the state agency that handles health benefits for state employees known as the Office of Group Benefits.

The lawsuit filed by FARA Benefits Incorporated was seeking damages because the state did not want to offer FARA as an option for its 250,000 state policy holders.

Because of the suit, Group Benefits was sort of frozen in place, unable to hold its annual enrollment for a week the lawsuit was battled in court.

Tommy Teague with the Office of Group Benefits says, "The meetings that were scheduled to take place are still scheduled. They're going on, we're going to extend enrollment for a week and make up those meetings that were missed last week."

Teague says the FARA option was dropped because it was too expensive. Group Benefits will offer its policy holders three options for health care.