By Reg Jones
Insurance for spouse
February 27th, 2012 | Coverage after retirement
Q: When do I have to put my wife under my health insurance? She is still working and doesn’t plan to retire for a couple of more years. I plan to retire next year. Do I have to insure her before I retire, while I am still working for the VA, or can I wait till she retires and loses her insurance to put her under my health insurance after I retire?
A: You could change your coverage from self to self and family when she loses her nonfederal coverage. The authority for that is Code 2G under OPM’s Table of Changes to Enrollment.
Tags: OPM
Disability benefits
February 24th, 2012 | Eligibility
Q: My daughter was declared permanently disabled and allowed to remain on my FEHB plan. What happens when I pass on? Will she have an option to continue coverage?
A: Yes, as long as she continues to be eligible for the disabled child benefit.
Tags: FEHB
Health benefits
February 24th, 2012 | Coverage after retirement
Q: My husband and I work for the post office – he will retire soon and I will carry the health insurance and leave with a deferred retirement in a few years – at 45 with 20 years – what happens to the health benefits?
A: Your husband would be able to continue the self and family coverage under Code 1M of the Table of Permissible Changes in Enrollment.
Tags: Postal Service, retire
Two forms of health insurance
February 17th, 2012 | FEHBP and Medicare
Q: I am 68 and a CSRS retiree. What are the advantages of enrolling in Medicare Part A when I am already covered under the FEHB?
A: You want some advantages? First, it’s free. You already paid for it through payroll deductions while you were working. Second, the combination of Medicare Part A and your FEHB plan will reduce or eliminate most of the deductibles and out-of-pocket charges for hospital care. Third, because the two programs don’t always cover the same things or in the same way, they tend to complement each other, giving you better coverage at lower cost.
Tags: CSRS, HEALTH INSURANCE
Preapproved waivers
February 17th, 2012 | Coverage after retirement
Q: I have an employee that enrolled in the FEHB plans effective Jan. 2, 2011, and has worked for the government for approximately 30 years. My agency is undergoing a VERA/VSIP announced in September. However, I found out that my agency did not request a preapproved waiver to include the health insurance. Can you tell me if this employee will be eligible to carry her health insurance into retirement?
A: In order for her to continue her FEHB coverage, your agency needed to attach a memorandum to her retirement application stating that she met the requirements for a pre-approved waiver by OPM. That certification had to include the number of the public law granting the agency’s buyout authority and the beginning and ending dates of the agency’s buyout period. If your agency didn’t do that, it will have to correct that error.
Tags: Early retirement, FEHB
Hospital coverage
February 15th, 2012 | HEALTH INSURANCE
Q: I am a postal retiree and I have my wife on my hospital coverage. When I die, will she be able to keep the APWU health plan, and what will be her cost.
A: If your widow is receiving a survivor annuity based on your employment, she can continue that coverage. For that coverage, she would pay self-only premiums instead of the self-and-family premiums you pay now.
Tags: Survivor benefits
Changing to self-only plans
February 14th, 2012 | Coverage after retirement
Q: My husband and I are retired federal employees. While we were employed, we did not have separate self-only health insurance plans. My husband was a part of my self-and-family plan. We continue to have a self-and-family plan. Because the combined annual cost of self-and-family coverage is about $900 more than the cost of two self-only policies, we would like to have separtate policies. Can we do this? If the answer is yes, is there an OPM or FEHB reference I can share with my husband. He is concerned about making changes and insists he was told at pre-retirement seminars that the self-only coverage is possible only if he had the self-only coverage while employed by the government.
A: To make a change to two self-only emrollments, call OPM’s Retirement Information Office at 888-767-6738 (202-6-6-0500 in the D.C. Metro area).
FEHBP and Tricare
February 13th, 2012 | FEHBP, Tricare and CHAMPVA
Q: I will become eligible for Tricare in March. Is there a need for me to continue coverage with FEHBP and if not, can I drop my coverage before the end of the fiscal year? I don’t turn 60 until March, which is when I become officially retired from the military reserve.
A: You can apply to suspend your FEHB coverage at any time. To do that, you must submit a completed suspension form and provide necessary documentation to show eligibility for Tricare or CHAMPVA during the period beginning 31 days before and ending 31 days after the date you designate as using Tricare or CHAMPVA instead of FEHB coverage. You can get a copy of the suspension form at www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf2809.pdf.
Tags: retire
Dual health coverage
February 13th, 2012 | Coverage after retirement
Q: My wife and I are federal employees. I’m under CSRS and will probably retire in 2012 with 40+ years of service at age 62. She is under FERS and not eligible to retire until 2017. We’re enrolled in a family FEHBP under my name. Does it make sense for us to swap during this Open Season so that we are covered by a family plan under her name and paid for by her pre-tax dollars? Are there procedural risks of me dropping coverage and her new election not going through, which would jeopardize me meeting the five-year rule for carrying coverage into retirement?
A: There are no risks in switching during Open Season because you only need to be enrolled or covered by the FEHB program for the five consecutive years before retirement to carry that coverage into retirement.
Medicare coverage
February 8th, 2012 | Medicare
Q: Dialysis for End Stage Renal Disease is covered by Medicare. Is it Part A or Part B that covers this treatment?
A: Part A for regular dialysis, Part B for chronic dialysis.
Tags: Medicare