Q: I am a retired federal employee and receive an annuity. I pay for my Medicare Part B quarterly. I would like to have this cost deducted monthly from my annuity. Is there a form to do this? If so, where can I get this form? A: According to OPM, if you aren’t receiving Social Security benefits, you can have Medicare premiums withheld from your annuity payments. To do this, OPM must receive a request for the withholding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They cannot withhold premiums based on your direct request or even one from the…
Browsing: SOCIAL SECURITY
Q: I am a 1998 CSRS/FERS transfer. My wife is retired and collecting a Social Security benefit. Next year when I turn 66 I thought I would take a spousal benefit off of my wife’s Social Security. Is it not true that because I have more than five years in FERS there is no GPO reduction in that spousal benefit? About a year later I plan to retire and start receiving my annuity of CSRS/FERS retirement. Even though I then would be receiving a pension that partially consists of CSRS where no Social Security was paid, wouldn’t there still be…
Q: My husband and I are both FERS employees. We are now 58 and plan to retire at 60. We will both meet minimum age and years of service requirements to receive the Special Retirement Supplement from age 60 to 62. What we cannot find out is how much our Social Security payment will be when we start receiving it at age 62 because we will not be working those two years (between 60 and 62) and thus not paying into Social Security past age 60. The yearly statement from the Social Security Administration assumes we will work until 62…
Q: I am 56 and was just shy of 30 years of service (21 years in CSRS and the rest FERS) as a GS-1811 before I retired at the end of 2007. Because I do not meet the MRA to collect Social Security benefits, I receive a FERS supplement instead. When I retired, my monthly Social Security benefit was calculated according to the annual salary that I had earned as a federal employee (GS 15). To subsidize my retirement, I now work for myself, and my annual salary is a lot less than I received as a federal employee. Because…
Q: I believe I can receive both OWCP compensation and Social Security retirement (not disability retirement) benefits with no offsets of any kind. However, can you please tell me where exactly in the OWCP regulations it says this? I know I saw it somewhere in OWCP information years ago, but I cannot find it now. I would like to have this in writing before I apply for my Social Security retirement benefits. A: The Department of Labor has a Q&A site. Go to www.neguard.com/HRO/documents/ca-550.pdf and read the answer to question 115.
Q: I recently ran across a copy of your Oct. 4, 2010, article on retirement titled, “These dates key for feds considering retirement.” I am a retired Navy officer. I left in 1999 with 20 years of active duty service as a commander. I collect retired pay annually, increasing from about $32,000 (1999) to a about $40,000 (2010) over the last 11 years. Upon retirement I was selected for the SES on July 6, 1999. I am 53 years old with more than 31 combined years of service. I am a FERS employee with an annual salary of around $172,000.…
Q: I was employed under CSRS and retired in 2008. From about 1967 to 1971 I paid Social Security taxes while working for the government as a Veterans Administration trainee. I later bought back this time. I am 63 and I have almost enough quarters to qualify for Social Security. I understand that any Social Security would be reduced by the windfall elimination law. Will the time I bought back also count toward my Social Security calculations (effectively therefore being counted for both CSRS and Social Security? If I don’t collect Social Security until my full retirement age (in my…
Q: My husband is retired and receives a pension and Social Security retirement. He is enrolled in the NALC Health Benefit Plan. He turns 65 in June. I understand that he will automatically be enrolled in Medicare because he receives Social Security benefits. Can he keep his federal health care plan with NALC instead of Part B? I am still working but am covered on his FEHB plan. If he is enrolled in Medicare Part B how will that affect my health insurance? A: Your husband will automatically be enrolled in Medicare Part A at no cost to himself. He…
Q: If I retire under FERS at age 56 (MRA) and begin drawing an immediate annuity I understand that I am entitled to the FERS supplement until age 62 when Social Security kicks in. I also understand that it will be suspended if I earn above a certain amount. If I only worked for a couple of years (say, until I was 58) will the supplement be reinstated for the years I don’t earn too much and, if so, what is the process to get it reinstated? A: Once your earnings have fallen below the Social Security earnings limit, the…
Q: I retired under FERS after changing from CSRS to FERS. I retired Feb. 29, 1988. Now I am being told by Social Security that I am not eligible to receive Social Security payments on my deceased former husband because I am receiving a retirement from the government. Please tell me how I can tell the Social Security Administration that I am entitled to benefits. They are requesting that I sign a form to return my request for the Social Security benefits. A: Because you have a CSRS component in your annuity, you are subject to the government pension offset…