Browsing: insurance

Q. My entrance on-duty date is May 1971, and I was reading that employees stop getting the government contribution to their retirement at 41 years one month. Would this apply for part-time employees? If not (being optimistic), would they factor in the part-time years of service and add on the years to equate to this timeline? For example, for someone who worked 10 years at 20 hours a week, deduct five years and continue contribution till the total 41 years one month are completed. Also, is there a ratio of how many retirees elect to take out an insurance policy…

Q. My son David is a federal employee under FERS who recently suffered severe mental health problems. 1. If David resigns his federal position, will he be eligible to apply for a medical disability retirement after the date of submitting his resignation? 2. Is there any waiver(s) for the requirement of applying for Social Security Insurance prior to submitting an application for a medical retirement? A. 1. Yes, he can file for disability retirement after he resigns. However, it would be better if he began the application process before that, because his agency has a role to fulfill which would…

Q. My health insurance is carried by Rural Carrier Benefit Plan because my husband was a rural carrier for 26 years plus military time. He passed away seven years ago, and I receive a portion of his retirement pay. If I remarry, can I continue to carry the same insurance? I am 75. A. Yes.

Q. My father was recently involved in a motor-vehicle accident where a car hit him while he was riding his bicycle. He’s 72 and sustained major fractures to his ankle. During this time, my siblings and I realized that his insurance was so substantial, that we wondered if he was overinsured, possibly due a refund from his primary insurance carrier. He has NALC insurance and Medicare Parts A and B. His Social Security is deposited directly into his checking account, so he hasn’t seen a statement in awhile, but he thinks he has insurance premiums deducted from his monthly deposit.…

Q. I’m retired from the Postal Service, and I would like to know if the USPS offers supplement insurance through the Medicare D program? Will I need to go outside of the Postal Service for my supplement insurance? I turn 65 in January. A. Neither the Postal Service nor any other agency of government offers supplemental insurance. You’re on your own.

Q. I am 46 with 22 years of service, and have been told that I will soon receive a letter of directed reassignment to a job in my same grade far outside my commuting area. When the letter arrives, if I should decline to move to the new position, what are my options for drawing retirement? How about insurance? Severance pay? What about my 401(k) in the Thrift Savings Plan? My performance ratings are not an issue. A. Reg: Because you wouldn’t meet the age and service requirements to retire, you’d only have one option. If you didn’t take a refund of…

Q. I retired on a FERS pension in August 2008. I also began receiving the FERS special retirement supplement as of the payment made Jan. 4, 2010. I obtained a job in the private sector on April 12, 2011, but was laid off on Feb. 28, 2012. I will have received unemployment insurance benefits from mid-March through this month. My special retirement supplement was offset by earnings over the annual exempt amount in 2011. (The “overpayment” is being deducted from my current FERS supplement payment.) My earnings in 2012 are well under the annual exempt amount. Is the special retirement supplement offset by unemployment…

Q. I retired after 30 years in the military and did not buy back my time. I am 53 and want to retire from FERS with 5½ years in. I know it’s a deferred retirement. Can I keep dental/vision insurance? Can I avoid the deferred retirement and draw a small pension right away? A. First, you don’t meet the age and service requirements for an immediate annuity. Second, employees who leave with an entitlement to a deferred annuity aren’t eligible to continue their coverage under the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program, nor may they re-enroll when their deferred…

Q. I retired in 1997 at age 62 under both CSRS and FERS and accumulated 40 credits with private sector and FERS. I was eligible to receive a small benefit from Social Security and a small amount of my husband’s Social Security benefits. If my husband dies before me, will I continue to receive that small benefit from his Social Security, or will the offset wipe it out? A. If he were to die, you would get the larger of your own Social Security benefit or the survivor benefit. Since you have already reached full Social Security retirement age, your…

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,…

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