Q. I am on a disability retirement and am 57 years old. I am blind (since age 7) and was denied Supplemental Security Income benefits because I do not have enough Social Security credits to qualify (of course I have enough for Medicare when I turn 65). I wanted SSI so I could join a Medicare HMO and receive primary care at home (I live in a group home). It seems since I paid into FERS and not SS, I fall through the cracks. Is there anything you can suggest? A. Let me first clear up a misconception. The fact…
Browsing: health care
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 am retiring at the end of December and have already reached age 65. I have signed up for Social Security benefits starting in January. I also signed up for Medicare Part A coverage but not Part B coverage, as suggested at a retirement seminar. I am carrying over my Federal Employees Health Benefits coverage. I checked with my plan and they said I would not need Medicare Part B. If I decide to switch plans in the future and my new insurer suggests that I need Part B coverage, will I be penalized with the 10 percent per…
Q: I am 53 years old and have 36 years of federal service. One catch: I don’t have the five years of coverage under a Federal Employees Health Benefit plan (I’m still four years short). If my office offers early out through downsizing or restructuring, approved by the Office of Personnel Management, can I retire and carry my health benefits into retirement, even though I don’t have five years of coverage? A: Yes, you would be eligible to carry your coverage into retirement because you would have been enrolled in the program at the time your agency received approval from…
Q: There was an answer to a question that I would like clarification on. The writer, who was retired, said he and his wife were under his family health plan, but now they don’t need to cover their son, and he wants to switch to self-only coverage for both he and his wife (they are both retired federal employees). How is this possible? When you retire, you have to pick the self or family option, and your spouse also has to pick the self or family option. I assume the wife dropped her coverage in this case because you can’t…
Q: My husband and I are both federal law enforcement officers. The family health plan is under my husband. We both plan to retire this year. He wants me to waive my survivor annuity and he says I will still be covered under our federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan because I was covered for the last five years of my employment under the Federal Employees Health Benefits family plan that he carried. He wants a bigger retirement check. My question is, if I sign the survivor annuity waiver and he dies before me, am I still automatically covered under our…
Q: I have heard that the new health care law requires all federal employees to pay income tax on the government-paid portion of our heath care plan’s cost. Is this true? A: No, it isn’t true. What is true is that in 2018, a 40 percent tax will be levied on health insurance plans that cost more than $10,200 per individual or $27,500 per family. The tax will be on any coverage that exceeds the limit. Those figures will be based on the combined contributions of enrollees and the government, and the expense will likely be passed on to consumers.…
Q: My wife and I are federal retirees and annuitants. We continue to enroll in the CareFirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield standard option. We do not have Medicare Part B. The Blue Cross 2010 Plan Booklet and several explanation of benefits from Blue Cross explain that by law, physicians who do not accept Medicare can only charge us up to 115 percent of what Medicare allows. The law applies to federal retirees and annuitants without Medicare Part B. Please confirm that what I summarized above is correct. A: What you read on Page 23 of your plan brochure is correct.
Q: The 2011 open-enrollment season will to intoduce a voluntary sub-option for annuitants who receive Medicare Part B. Can you give me an update on this Office of Personnel Management proposal? Will all the participatng plans offer this, especially Blue Cross/Blue Shield? A: On April 7, OPM issued its annual call letter to plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. In the letter, it encouraged them to propose “pilot programs wherein participating carriers offer a sub-option for Medicare-eligible annuitants as an alternate choice within their existing option(s). The sub-option may include premium pass-through accounts to be used solely…
Q: Does a break of 55 days of federal service constitute losing 27 years of Federal Employees Health Benefits plan coverage before retiring? In other words, someone resigns from federal service. Then, he is hired 55 days later in a TERM position, achiveing permanent status seven months later. The TERM position allowed for full benefits, such as sick leave, annual leave, and FEHB election and coverage on the first day of hire. A: If you were enrolled in an FEHB plan on the day you left government and on returning to work for the government re-enrolled at your earliest opportunity,…