Q. I am a postal employee with self-only coverage. My wife works in private industry and has her own self coverage. Do I need to convert to family coverage and add my wife five years before I retire to keep her on my health insurance? Also, where can I find answers to questions like this?
Browsing: Coverage after retirement
Q. I am 50, have 20 years under FERS and am thinking of retiring in six years when I reach my MRA of 56. If I do this, will I get health insurance coverage right away? Also, can I retire at 56 but delay retirement payments until 60 (or is it 62?) so I can avoid the 5 percent-per-year reduction in the payout? My main concern is keeping health insurance in place as soon as I retire at 56 — I can afford to delay the payout.
Q. I have a postponed retirement. When I start my annuity at age 62, must I enroll in Federal Employees Health Benefits at startup or may I enroll at a later date?
Q. I will have been a federal employee for five years on Aug. 31. I will be 61 years old. I would like to leave federal service effective on that date. Will I be entitled to a pension? If so, how do I determine the amount. What is the financial impact if I wait to retire until August 2014 when I am 62?
Q. I am 57 and a recent CSRS retiree. My husband is 67 and receives Social Security. He has Medicare Part A and is covered under my Federal Employees Health Benefits insurance plan. He is in the eight-month period after my retirement to enroll without penalty in Medicare Part B. Can he suspend his coverage in the FEHBP to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan? Then I could change my FEHBP enrollment to self-only, which would reduce our insurance costs. Or is suspension of FEHB only an option for annuitants? A. He can’t suspend his coverage under the FEHB program.…
Q. I am a retired federal employee with Kaiser Permanente standard health coverage. My co-pays are low, as are my prescription drugs. Kaiser offers a Medicare Plus plan I can enroll in, but I have to have Medicare Part B to qualify. My Federal Employees Health Benefits premiums would not increase and they advertise lower deductibles, I assume, because they would be able to bill Medicare for some of the costs of care. It doesn’t seem that enrolling in Medicare Part B when I turn 65 in a few months is worth the extra premium. At some point in the…
Q. I’m a 68-year-old Postal Service employee under FERS. I wanted to retire on or about May 10 because I began my postal career as a regular carrier on May 10, 2009. I purchased the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Basic medical insurance as soon as the open season began in 2009. Now someone tells me that to continue into retirement with the BC/BS medical insurance, I should have signed up for the medical insurance immediately when I became a regular carrier in May 2009. I thought I needed to wait until the open season. Can I still retire on or about…
Q. It seems to me that if I choose to take Medicare Part B with my Blue Cross/Blue Shield standard Federal Employees Health Benefits insurance, my maximum additional out of pocket would be $2,500 Medicare premium plus $5,000 expensive drugs = $7,500. If I decline Medicare Part B, my max out of pocket would be $5,000. Am I missing something?
Q. In 2014, when the Affordable Care Act goes into effect, will federal retirees be forced to change their present medical plan? I have been retired since 2000. I am enrolled in the Kaiser Plan and I want to know whether I will be forced to give it up. If I am allowed to stay enrolled in Kaiser, will I be charged a higher monthly payment to stay in this program? I have established doctors who have been assigned to me for quite a few years and I am concerned that I will lose them.
Q. I am 64 and have worked for the Transportation Security Administration for 2½ years. I would like to retire when I reach 65 next year when Medicare becomes available to me. But my wife is one year younger. Is there a COBRA system so she can be covered for the one year before her Medicare kicks in?