Q: I have heard that the new health care law requires all federal employees to pay income tax on the government-paid portion of our heath care plan’s cost. Is this true? A: No, it isn’t true. What is true is that in 2018, a 40 percent tax will be levied on health insurance plans that cost more than $10,200 per individual or $27,500 per family. The tax will be on any coverage that exceeds the limit. Those figures will be based on the combined contributions of enrollees and the government, and the expense will likely be passed on to consumers.…
Browsing: HEALTH INSURANCE
Q: My wife and I are federal retirees and annuitants. We continue to enroll in the CareFirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield standard option. We do not have Medicare Part B. The Blue Cross 2010 Plan Booklet and several explanation of benefits from Blue Cross explain that by law, physicians who do not accept Medicare can only charge us up to 115 percent of what Medicare allows. The law applies to federal retirees and annuitants without Medicare Part B. Please confirm that what I summarized above is correct. A: What you read on Page 23 of your plan brochure is correct.
Q: My father retired from the Internal Revenue Service 20 years ago. He has Medicare Part A but did not take Medicare Part B and has continued his Federal Employees Health Benefits insurance plan. Until now, all bills had been covered by his Aetna FEHB insurance. Now he needs surgery, and he was informed that this insurance is secondary and Medicare Part B, which he does not have, is primary. Is that accurate? Why is he paying $16,000 a year for in private insurance if it is only secondary? Also, I got the impression that if you don’t take Medicare…
Q: I am retiring June 30, 2010. I am already retired from the military and have used my Tricare benefits until now. Under the new health care plan that passed in Congress, I am already receiving letters from doctors that I have been seeing for years, telling me they will no longer accept Tricare or Medicare. I want to carry the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan into retirement. Does my use of Tricare qualify for the five-year rule? A: Not unless you were enrolled in the FEHB program on the day you retired. If you were, your years of coverage…
Q: I am covered under the Civil Service Retirement System, but my husband is a Federal Employees Retirement System employee. Prior to retirement, we want to have him get Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan coverage (he is covered under my plan now) and provide coverage to me. Will he be able to continue FEHB coverage for both of us when he retires (he has to work at least one year longer than I), and is the cost about the same as if I provided our coverage (as a retired CSRS employee)? A: There is no difference in the premiums paid…
Q: I have been retired from federal service (Civil Service Retirement System) for the past eight years after 30 years of government service. I am enrolled under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan for myself and my family. If I were to die, would my wife continue to get health benefits? A: Yes, if you elected a survivor benefit for her. If you didn’t, she wouldn’t.
Q: I am eligible to retire without penalty (Federal Employees Retirment System) since I’m now 60 years old and have almost 24 years of federal service. I have health insurance for myself, which I plan on carrying into retirement. My husband, who has worked for private industry, has just had open-heart surgery. He filed for disability and is being awarded. He also filed for retirement through his company. He has had excellent health insurance with his employer and union. They are to carry full health coverage on him for nine months after his heart attack in November. Since this is…
Q: If a Civil Service Retirement System retiree is currently receiving government health insurance and gets married, can he add his spouse to his health insurance? A: Anyone covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits program who has a change in family status, such as marriage, birth or death of a family member, adoption, legal separation or divorce, can change from self only to self and family or vice versa. For employees, the code is 1C in the Table of Permissible Changes; for retirees, it is code 2B.
Q: Does a break of 55 days of federal service constitute losing 27 years of Federal Employees Health Benefits plan coverage before retiring? In other words, someone resigns from federal service. Then, he is hired 55 days later in a TERM position, achiveing permanent status seven months later. The TERM position allowed for full benefits, such as sick leave, annual leave, and FEHB election and coverage on the first day of hire. A: If you were enrolled in an FEHB plan on the day you left government and on returning to work for the government re-enrolled at your earliest opportunity,…
Q: My wife has been a Civil Service Retirement System employee for almost 36 years; I am new to the Federal Employees Retirement System, having been employed under it for approximately 1.5 years. I have been under my wife’s Federal Employees Health Benefits plan since March 2008. I am 56 years old. If we elect to each go single coverage during the open season, will I get credit for the two years toward the five that I need for retirement purposes? A: Yes, you will.