Q. I plan to retire Jan. 3. In Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance, I have $55,000 basic and three times Option B for a total of $161,000 of insurance. I have paid 38 years into FEGLI and recently found out that when I turn 65 years old, my insurance reduces to nothing. Due to health conditions — cancer three years ago and diabetes — finding whole life insurance is very expensive and hard to afford. If I have $55,000 of basic insurance and decide to reduce my insurance by 50 percent, which leaves $27,500, how much does my family receive if I should die at…
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Q. If I change my health insurance to self-only (due to my wife having insurance through her company) and I retire next year, can I add her back to mine if she loses or changes jobs. I ask because it’s open season and I plan on retiring the end of May from the Postal Service. I have my minimum retirement age and 31 years, three of which are my military buyback. A. As a retiree, you could change from self-only to self and family under Qualifying Life Event 2G. And you could do that from 31 days before through 60…
Q. I am a federal employee with 32+ years of civil service, planning on retiring in the next five years. I have been enrolled in a Federal Employees Health Benefits plan throughout my career. My husband retired from active duty Aug. 31 with 23+ years. We had dual coverage under Tricare and FEHB since August 1995, with FEHB being primary and Tricare as secondary. Now that my husband has retired, to continue to be covered under Tricare, he had to sign up for a specific Tricare plan, for which we are now charged a monthly premium. We are trying to determine…
Q. I am a new federal employee with Tricare Prime that I am paying for since I am retired military. Is there any advantage in taking Federal Employees Health Benefits. If so, what would it be? Second, can I only sign up for the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program to take care of my co-payments and additional dental cost if I don’t sign up for FEHB? A. As to your first question, I have only anecdotal advice to give you. Some employees who are covered by Tricare have told me that they enrolled in the least expensive FEHB plan as…
Q. I’m retiring under CSRS on Dec. 31. I’m covered by Federal Employees Health Benefits. I intend to sign up for Part B and keep FEHB. My wife is under my FEHB and Medicare A/B. When would be the best time for me to sign up for Medicare Part B? Under Part B, how do I know what level of coverage I need under FEHB? Should I keep what I have now? A. There is a seven-month initial enrollment period for Medicare Part B. It begins three months before you turn 65 and ends three months after that month. It’s…
Q. I am a government employee, but my husband is working in the private sector. To date, we have been using my husband’s health insurance because it provides excellent coverage. However, my husband’s company does not provide health coverage after retirement. To that end, I plan to enroll in a Federal Employees Health Benefits program in December since my retirement date is five years away. (My husband is retiring in five years, as well.) Does my husband need to be covered on my program for five years, too? Or can I add him in the last year prior to my…
Q. When I retire from the Veterans Affairs Department at age 62 in nine years, I will have carried Blue Cross/Blue Shield on myself for 20 years and my spouse for 16. He will be 65 then. Can we continue the BC/BS family plan after I retire? What will be the difference in premiums? I pay approximately $200 per month now. I am worried that I won’t have health insurance because I won’t be Medicare-eligible until age 65? A. Relax. You’ll not only be able to continue your coverage in retirement, but the premiums will be the same as those…
Q. My wife and I are both federal employees. I am CSRS and she is FERS. Since 2009, I have carried “family” health coverage that is deducted from my CSRS paycheck to cover our health insurance needs. Prior to 2009, she carried her own federal health insurance. She has had no break in federal service (health care coverage) between 1988 and August 2012. Should I precede my wife in death, how much spousal retirement benefit should I leave her so she can continue to receive full federal health insurance benefits? I have been told that all I have to leave…
Q. I have worked for the federal government for 26 years, and will be eligible to retire next year at age 56. I have family coverage with Blue Cross/Blue Shield for myself and my children but not my ex-husband. If I remarry, I assume I can add my new husband to my family policy. Will my new husband be eligible for health care coverage under my policy in retirement if I retire within the next two to five years? A. As long as your husband is covered by your self-and-family enrollment on the day you retire, he will remain covered as…
Q. I retired from federal service in 1989. At that time, I maintained my Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance coverage. After all those years, how can I ascertain if I still have it? A. Assuming you are talking about your basic insurance, unless you elected to maintain a higher level of coverage (for which you’d still be paying), it will have declined in value at a rate of 2 percent per month beginning at age 65 until it reached 25 percent of its face value on the day you retired. It will stay at that level until you pass on,…