Q. We are trying to determine whether or not my husband, a federal employee, must have self-and-family coverage on the date he retires to have a spouse covered under his health/dental/vision plans. I am not under his health insurance as I am covered by my employer. I will stop working after he retires. If he retires in a self-only status for health/dental/vision, will he be able to add me and change to self and family after he retires? Either at open enrollment or when I stop working and lose my employment coverage? If so, can you tell us where to…
Browsing: spouse benefits
Q. I am a retired CSRS federal employee and have Blue Cross/Blue Shield as primary coverage for myself and my husband. He is retired military and has Tricare Prime for himself and me as secondary coverage. Under Obama’s new health coverage plan, will we be able to continue our coverage as is? Have the BC/BS 2014 premiums been determined/published? Will I receive notification from the government, as in past years, that it is open season and, if I do not want to change, or am not forced to do so, will I do nothing? Are we required to register/enroll in Obama’s health care coverage since…
Q. My husband will be retiring for the Postal Service in November. Should he get a spousal annuity for me, a CSRS employee who will be retiring in 2016? Will I be eligible to draw Social Security benefit from his retirement and my CSRS retirement upon his death?
Q. I am retired with the Blue Cross/Blue Shield family plan, which also covers my wife. She will have survivor benefits after I die, assuming I go first. Will she be able to continue on BCBS as a “self” subscriber if I die first?
Q. I will be a FERS retiree with more than 30 years and my spouse will also be eligible for a deferred FERS retirement but will probably wait seven years until he’s 62. He left federal employment more than 10 years ago, and I have always carried him on my Federal Employees Health Benefits family plan. I understand he will be covered by my FEHB family plan after I retire as long as I’m living. If I don’t select a survivor annuity for him, will he be eligible to get his own FEHB plan if I die before him?
Q. My husband passed away two years ago and, because I retired with a California Public Employees’ Retirement System pension, I am not eligible to receive his Social Security benefit because of the government pension offset. When I reach full retirement age (66), does the GPO still apply?
Q. I retired from civil service in 2011 at age 62. In November, I turn 65. I get a retirement annuity from civil service (33 years), along with a reduced railroad retirement annuity (10½ years). My insurance is with GEHA, which we have kept. Last month, I received a Medicare card from the railroad retirement board, but so far nothing from the government. I cannot figure if I have to apply for the one from civil service or rely on the railroad card. I assume they would have the same Medicare number. Should I be concerned the government has not…
Q. Is the 10 percent FERS survivor benefit reduction pretax or post-tax? In other words, if your FERS benefit is $50,000 and the spouse reduction is $5,000, is your pension income reported to the Internal Revenue Service as $50,000 or $45,000?
Q. My fiance is a retired federal government employee under CSRS. We are getting married this month, and he would like to add me as his wife to his insurance. However, when we called and asked about the monthly cost of adding me (I have never worked for the federal government), we were told his premiums would jump from approximately $155 a month to $450 per month because I have never worked for the government. Is it correct that what we pay for insurance can climb by a huge amount because I never worked for the government, or would the…
Q. When I retired in 1985, I elected to take the survivor benefit. My wife died in September 2006. I then elected to take my full annuity at about $69,000. My current annuity is about $78,000. I remarried one year ago. I am 86, and my wife is 71. How much will it cost me to renew the survivor benefit for my current wife? Can it be paid in a lump sum, or is it subtracted from my annuity? Can you please give me a form number to download?