Currently, OPM retains the health care premium rebates to, supposedly, keep health care premiums down for federal workers. However, there is no evidence of that strategy working since health care premiums have continued to rise. Federal workers have been demonized and scapegoated, portrayed as the reason for the fiscal crisis the country faced. Then, they were punished with no cost of living increases for years and furloughed for days, with 2014 promising even more.
Like all working Americans, federal workers have bills to pay and obligations meet. While it may be popular to balance the federal budget on federal workers' backs, it is neither feasible nor fair. Let them have their premium rebates to help them fill their own budget shortfalls.