Browsing: Open season

Q. I am a FERS retiree with self-only coverage and will be getting married in July. My fiancee has a good, inexpensive health care plan through her private employer but cannot carry that coverage into retirement. Can I wait until she retires (five years from now) to switch to self-and-family coverage, or do I have to switch within 60 days of the wedding? If I can wait, would I have to make the change during an open season, or would her loss of eligibility due to retirement be considered a qualifying life event?

Q. I am a GS with the Veterans Affairs Department, but also retired military. I have used Tricare Prime as my insurance since I retired two years ago, but with the new changes to Tricare, I am in an area that is losing Tricare Prime on Oct. 1 and being reverted to Tricare Standard. I have a daughter with a medical condition that requires frequent physician follow-ups, and being placed on Tricare Standard alone scares me. Would loss of existing health insurance be a “qualifying event” for me to buy into a Federal Employees Health Benefits plan?

Q. My husband retired at the end of 2007. He is receiving his pension and is covered by FEHB. When he retired, I was still working and therefore did not need to be covered under his insurance, as my employer has coverage for me. I plan to retire at the end of this year; can he add me to his insurance during open enrollment this year? When he retired, we were told he could add me later, provided there was a life-changing event. Retirement would qualify as a life-change event.

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’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. I am a retired Postal Service employee but still carry my insurance as I need it for my wife. She is going on Medicare on June 1. I would like to keep single coverage for me. Is this possible, and how would I go about doing this? My group number is 40240 and my member number is 000687531.

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.

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