Q. I have a couple of questions about insurance plan comparisons for single and family options in retirement. For health insurance in retirement, when or should we change to two self-only plans or stay with the self and family plan in retirement? Are there any major considerations in selecting two single plans or the family plan? My wife and I, no other dependents, are CSRS retirees. We are covered by my self and family BCBS Standard 105 plan. I have been reading the plan brochure but cannot create a logical comparison of when, or if, to go with two single…
Browsing: family coverage
Q. I am getting ready to enroll in Medicare. I have GEHA High Option Family Plan and was advised to change to GEHA Low Option Family Plan once I am enrolled in Medicare. I have the High Family Option because my spouse is ill and requires frequent medical attention. A. The only way to know if that would be a good decision for you and your spouse would be to compare the benefits for each level of GEHA coverage and see how they would mesh with Medicare. If your spouse isn’t covered by Medicare, electing the low option might increase your out-of-pocket…
Q. I’m planning to retire under the FERS MRA+10 provisions at age 59, with 27 years of continuous federal service. I have the option to take an immediate annuity or to postpone receipt of my annuity until age 60 to avoid part of the age reduction penalty for early retirement: 5 percent per year for each year under age 62. Do I understand the following alternatives correctly? By taking the immediate annuity at age 59, I would be penalized 15 percent, but only for one year, until I turn 60. If I postpone until age 60, there would be no penalty to my annuity. Also, if I take the immediate…
Q. I retired with FERS law enforcement benefits, am 59 and have maintained continuous federal health care coverage from day one under either me or my wife. My spouse will take an unreduced CSRS annuity with a survivor benefit from the Postal Service next year at age 55. We took family coverage under her when we had children, now ages 19 and 14. Her premium rates as an active postal employee were lower than my options active or retired. When she retires and her premiums rise to my level, we would like to make me the policyholder. As retired law…
Q. I have always been a single person without any dependents, but for several years I was enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente family health plan instead of the Kaiser self-only plan. After realizing this, I changed to the Kaiser self-only plan in early 2011. Since there is nobody past or present who could legally use my health benefits other than me, can I get a refund for the difference in premiums paid over the past years? A. According to the Office of Personnel Management, “It is up to the employing agency whether or not to make a retroactive correction from…
Q. I’m employed under FERS and plan to retire soon unmarried. After I am retired, I will still be covered with the FEHB single plan. If I should decide to get married later, is it possible to add my spouse to my FEHB plan and change to a family plan to bring her under my coverage? Are there any prerequisites or approval steps for her in order to add her to give her coverage, as well? A. Yes, you could change from self-only coverage to self and family under code 2B in the Office of Personnel Management’s Table of Permissible Changes…
Q. I am a federal employee several years younger than my wife, who turns 65 next year, and we have Federal Employees Health Benefits plan (self and family). Will she have Medicare as her primary and FEHB as her secondary after turning 65, even though I am still working and have FEHB as my primary? A. Yes
Q. My husband and I are both federal employees. He was a postal worker for 13 years and then transferred to a job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. We are close to retirement, within four or five years. He is on my health care (family plan) and has been for 13 years, which is how long we have been married. Does he have to have his own insurance five years prior to retirement? I have carried a family plan for at least 19 years. A. An employee only needs to be enrolled in or covered by the Federal Employees…
Q. The Office of Personnel Management website is unclear to a couple of us potential Civil Service Retirement System retirees as to whether a nonfederal spouse, not covered by a Federal Employees Health Benefits policy, can receive coverage by the federal annuitant changing from single coverage to a family plan during an open season after the federal spouse retires. For example, assume a federal employee currently covered by an FEHB Kaiser Permanente plan has a nonfederally employed wife (currently covered by a Kaiser Permanente single-only health plan though her employer). The federal employee retires Sept. 3, 2011. After he retires, can…
Q. I currently have self-only health insurance coverage because my spouse’s health insurance is paid by her employer. I will retire in December 2016. She will retire the same date. At that time, her employer will no longer pay her premiums. Since I have had my coverage as self-only for the five years prior to retirement, may I change my insurance to self and family coverage? A. Yes, you can do that during the next open season.