By Reg Jones
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
Individual insurance
December 13th, 2011 | Eligibility
Q: I have worked for the Veterans Affair Department for the past 16 years. My husband retired there, and has us on his FEHB health insurance plan. With open season coming up, we would like to take individual plans. Will this mean I have to work five years before retiring if I do, or is that only for life insurance?
A: No, you won’t have to work five years. The only requirement is that you be enrolled in or covered by the FEHB program for the five consecutive years before you retire.
Tags: HEALTH INSURANCE
FEHB coverage
December 13th, 2011 | Eligibility
Q: I am a 57-year-old employee in the federal court system with five years of qualified service. If for some reason the judge I work for should decide to leave or be unable to work, my position would officially end. If I cannot find another position with the court, would I be able to continue my FEHB health care coverage after my job ends?
A: You would be able to continue your FEHB coverage for up to 18 months under the Temporary Continuation of Coverage provision. You would be required to pay the whole premium, plus 2 percent to cover administrative expenses. If you left your retirement contributions in the fund, you would be able to apply for a deferred annuity at age 62. However, you would not be able to re-enroll in the FEHB program at that time. No one who retires on a deferred annuity can do that.
Tags: FEHB
CSRS retirement
June 1st, 2011 | Eligibility
Q: I’m in CSRS and I’m 55 with 27-and-a-half years service. I’m considering getting married and would like to know if my future spouse can be covered under my FEHB enrollment if I get married and retire within two years of retirement or, if I wait to get married until after I retire would he eligible for FEHBP? Also, he is a FERS employee but he isn’t eligible for FEHB if he retires early with me.
A: I’m not sure I understand the scenarios you presented. Fortunately, that doesn’t matter. If you get married, you can switch your enrollment from self only to self and family within 60 days of that event. Also, once married, you can make that switch during any open season, whether you are employed or retired.
Tags: CSRS, FEHB, FEHBP, FERS, RETIREMENT
Missing out on health plan
May 20th, 2011 | Eligibility
Q: I have worked for the DHS for a little more than four years, and have four years of military time which I bought back. I am 59 years old and would like to retire sometime around 62. I have been in one of the health care plans, but would like to use it when I retire. My wife had a cheaper plan where she worked, so I never switched over. When I was hired, I was never told of the need to be in the plan for five years before I retired. Why would this have any affect on me enrolling in the future? I have saved the government money by not being in the plan. They have had to spend zero on me for health care, but someone who has used the health care for five years would then be eligible at 62 to keep it. Please tell me how this makes any sense? If I had been told when I was hired I would have chosen the health-care option. If I retire at 62, my wife would like to retire also, and we can’t get into her health-care plan when we retire. How would saving the government money affect my ability to get into the system? We had been in her plan for a number of years, and hated to switch when I got hired. Can you give me some guidance on this issue, or who I can contact?
A: By law, you would have to be enrolled in an FEHB plan for five years or from your first opportunity to enroll to carry that coverage into retirement. In your case, your first opportunity to enroll was when you were hired by the federal government. There are only two exceptions to this rule. First, if you can prove that you were prevented by circumstances beyond your control from enrolling in the FEHB, which is an exceedingly difficult standard to meet, since ignorance of the law is no excuse. Second, if you were enrolled in an FEHB plan, were eligible to retire – in your case, age 62 with five years of service – and your agency offered you an opportunity to retire early.
Tags: FEHB, military buyback, retire
Insurance coverage
March 11th, 2011 | Eligibility
Q: My husband was married when he retired. They later divorced and he married me. I was added to his insurance a few years later. If he dies, will I still be able to continue to be covered by his federal insurance and pay the premiums?
A: Only if you are entitled to receive a survivor annuity based on his federal employment.
Tags: survivor annuity
Health care in retirement for dual-fed couples
December 23rd, 2010 | Coverage after retirement Eligibility HEALTH INSURANCE
Q: My spouse and I are both under the Federal Employees Retirement System and our service computation dates are within weeks of each other. We would both like to retire under the minimum retirement age plus-10 provision. My spouse wants to retire in 2011 at age 58, with 26 1/2 years of continuous service, the entire time enrolled in a Federal Employees Health Benefits individual plan. The earliest I would retire is 2012 at age 57, with 27 1/2 years of continuous service, all in an FEHB individual plan.
Here is our plan: During this open season, I should enroll my spouse and myself in an FEHB family plan. She could then retire in 2011 and elect a postponed annuity. She would have health benefits under my family plan, while her annuity entitlement increases 5 percent for each year she postpones receipt of her annuity. When she elects to receive her annuity at age 59 or 60, she can then re-enroll in an FEHB family plan. At that time, I could retire (also with a postponed annuity) and receive health benefits under my wife’s plan. Again, when I start receiving my postponed annuity several years later, I can re-enroll in an individual FEHB plan, and she could change her family coverage to an individual plan during open season. This way, we have two individual FEHB plans and we won’t have to worry about electing FERS survivor benefits that would otherwise reduce our annuities. Is this a reasonable plan?
A: Sounds like a reasonable plan. However, because you cannot have dual coverage (i.e., self and family plus self only for one family member, or self and family for both members), you’ll have to time the switch from one covered member to the other. As a rule, this would be easiest to do during the annual open season.
Tags: family coverage, family plan, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, FEHB, FEHBP, HEALTH INSURANCE, self-only coverage
Health insurance after a buyout
December 22nd, 2010 | Coverage after retirement Early retirement Eligibility HEALTH INSURANCE
Q: I am 53 years old and have 36 years of federal service. One catch: I don’t have the five years of coverage under a Federal Employees Health Benefit plan (I’m still four years short). If my office offers early out through downsizing or restructuring, approved by the Office of Personnel Management, can I retire and carry my health benefits into retirement, even though I don’t have five years of coverage?
A: Yes, you would be eligible to carry your coverage into retirement because you would have been enrolled in the program at the time your agency received approval from OPM to offer early retirements. Your agency would attach a memo to your retirement application stating that you meet the requirements for an immediate waiver of the five-year rule.
Tags: buyout, early out, Federal Employees Health Benefits, FEHB, FEHBP, health care, HEALTH INSURANCE
Self, family coverage changes in retirement
December 17th, 2010 | Coverage after retirement Eligibility FEHBP and Medicare HEALTH INSURANCE
Q: My wife and I are both federal employees. We each have had individual coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan since we began working for the government. We both plan on retiring next year. She will be 61 and have 26 years of service; I will be 58 and have 20 years of service. I will postpone my retirement until age 60 to avoid the penalty. We plan on converting to a family plan this open season (2010) so that I am covered during those two years of my postponement. Is this the correct way to guarantee that I maintain my eligibility under FEHB for the past five years and be able to go back to an individual FEHB plan when I begin collecting my annuity at age 60?
A: Having your wife enroll in the self and family option of her plan will assure that you have health benefits coverage during the period between when you retire and when your annuity begins. You can both revert to self-only coverage during the following open season.
Tags: family coverage, Federal Employees Health Benefits, FEHB, FEHBP, HEALTH INSURANCE, health insurance changes, self coverage
Survivor benefits and divorce
December 17th, 2010 | Coverage after retirement Eligibility HEALTH INSURANCE POST-RETIREMENT RETIREMENT Survivor benefits
Q: I retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2000 after being divorced in 1997. I gave my ex-wife 100 percent survivor benefits; she recently turned 55. I remarried in 2004 and sent the proper forms needed to add my current wife to my Federal Employees Health Benefits plan. I now have the American Postal Workers Union (472) plan, and I assumed that if I died, my present wife would be able to keep the plan. After talking with the Office of Personnel Management, I was told that I need to have my present wife named as survivor beneficiary for her to keep it, even though my ex-wife has 100 percent survivor benefits. They said that I had to do that within two years after our marriage. I was never advised of this and have never read anything on the matter. Can you please explain this to me?
A: Under 5 CFR 831.631, a retiree can elect a survivor annuity for a spouse acquired after retirement. That election must be made within two years after the marriage. Although your former spouse has entitlement to the full survivor annuity, if she were to die and you had elected a survivor annuity for your current spouse, your current spouse would be entitled to that survivor annuity. Because your annuity has already been reduced to pay for the original survivor annuity, your election of one for your current spouse wouldn’t cost you anything. Note: Even if you died after electing a survivor annuity for your current spouse, she would only be eligible to continue her FEHB coverage if she was actually receiving a survivor annuity.
Tags: divorce, Federal Employees Health Benefits, FEHB, FEHBP, survivor annuity, Survivor benefits