[TSPStrategy] New bills want to provide Gold Star survivors with better benefits, make it easier for former feds to return

https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2024/10/new-bills-want-provide-gold-star-survivors-better-benefits-make-it-easier-former-feds-return/400281/?oref=ge_paybenefits_nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pay%20and%20Benefits%20Watch:%20Oct.%2017%2C%202024&utm_term=newsletter_pay_and_benefits_watch

New bills want to provide Gold Star survivors with better benefits, make it easier for former feds to return

The Gold Star Spouse Healthcare Enhancement Act aims to provide fallen service members' partners with lower health care costs for longer, while the Return USA Act looks to create an on-ramp for former employees to return to federal service. 

October 16, 2024

• Pay & Benefits Watch

Carten Cordell

Managing Editor, Government Executive

New House legislation wants to help ensure that the spouses of fallen service members can keep their health care benefits for longer without having to absorb higher costs. 

The Gold Star Spouse Healthcare Enhancement Act (HR 9974) — cosponsored by Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Don Bacon, R-Neb., on Oct. 11 — specifically aims to extend the length of time the surviving spouse of a fallen service member can retain their active-duty family member status in TRICARE Prime, the Defense Department's managed health care option insurance plan, to help provide them with fewer out-of-pocket expenses. 

Currently, the spouses of fallen service members can retain their TRICARE Prime active duty health coverage for three years before shifting to retired family member status, which carries enrollment fees of up to $363 or $438.96 per individual and $726 or $879 per family in 2024, depending on whether the service member's enrollment was before or after Jan.1, 2018, alongside additional out-of-pockets costs for various covered services. 

Beneficiaries can also enroll in other TRICARE plans, such as TRICARE Select, but that plan carries deductibles and potentially higher enrollment costs. 

Kaptur and Bacon's bill would amend the current statute to extend the TRICARE Prime active duty coverage by removing the three-year cap for the surviving spouses. 

"We as a nation have a responsibility to these families our heroes leave behind, and this is a small step forward in honoring their sacrifice and caring for their families," said Bacon, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation, in a statement. "Thousands of Gold Star spouses are paying the retiree rate for healthcare because of current law. The Gold Star Spouse TRICARE Act of 2024 will allow Gold Star spouses to be treated as 'active-duty members' instead of a family member of a retiree so they will no longer have to incur additional costs to either continue TRICARE Prime or transition to TRICARE Select."

The legislation has been referred to the House Armed Services Committee. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., is looking to establish the federal government's first returnship program for former federal employees to return to public service. 

Wexton's Return USA Act (HR 9953) would seek to create a pilot program to allow former feds with at least three years of prior work experience, and who have taken a career break of at least one year, to re-enter the workforce in civil service positions commensurate with their work experience.

The program, based on successful experiences in the private sector and a state government program in Utah, is designed to encourage the return of skilled federal talent to agencies with workforce needs. 

That includes women, who often face the "motherhood penalty" if they leave their jobs after the birth of a child, contending with barriers to workforce re-entry, career trajectory impacts and lower pay. 

"Too many American workers are forced to make sacrifices to their career to care for their family or loved ones, resulting in major setbacks to their professional life as well as a loss of critical talent and expertise for their employer," said Wexton, in a statement. "Women disproportionately face these barriers to re-entering the workforce and often suffer lower pay and fewer advancement opportunities as a result."

Under the bill, qualified federal employees seeking to re-enter the civilian workforce would receive onboarding, training, mentorship and professional and leadership development opportunities for at least one year. 

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Share This:

NEXT STORY: OPM sets up leave transfer program for feds impacted by Milton

_._,_._,_

---

Groups.io Links:

You receive all messages sent to this group.

View/Reply Online (#3806) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic
Your Subscription | Contact Group Owner | Unsubscribe [prefander.leadersworkshop@blogger.com]

_._,_._,_

[TSPStrategy] Cost-of-living adjustments will decline for federal retirees again in 2025

https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2024/10/cost-living-adjustments-will-decline-federal-retirees-again-2025/400192/

Cost-of-living adjustments will decline for federal retirees again in 2025

For the second straight year, former federal workers will see a smaller increase to their defined-benefit annuities in January, with FERS retirees set for a 2% increase and CSRS annuitants a 2.5% bump.

October 10, 2024 02:01 PM ET

• Retirement Benefits
• Pay Raise

Erich Wagner

The annual cost-of-living adjustment for federal retirees is set, and for the second straight year, it may disappoint them.

The Social Security Administration on Thursday announced that Social Security beneficiaries will receive a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment in January, a decrease from last year's 3.2% increase in annuity payments. SSA calculates the annual increase based on the annual change in the third quarter consumer price index for workers.

Federal retirees enrolled in the Civil Service Retirement System will receive a 2.5% increase to their annuities in January, but former feds who are part of the newer Federal Employees Retirement System, which launched in the 1980s alongside the 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plan, will see only a 2.0% cost-of-living adjustment.

That's because FERS' cost-of-living adjustment is calculated based on an extrapolation of the Social Security and CSRS increase. Each year, if CSRS sees an increase of less than 2%, FERS retirees receive the full COLA, while if the adjustment is between 2% and 3%, like next year, FERS enrollees only receive a 2% increase. And if the CSRS COLA is 3% or more, FERS retirees receive that adjustment, minus 1 percentage point.

That formula is a source of consternation among federal employee and retiree groups, and some Democratic lawmakers. Legislation, thus far not acted upon in either chamber of Congress, like the Equal COLA Act, would ensure both FERS and CSRS retirees receive the same annuity increase each year.

In a statement, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association National President William Shackelford said that while overall inflation may be waning, the accompanying decrease in former feds' cost-of-living adjustments is a tough pill to swallow alongside news that federal workers and retirees will pay, on average, 13.5% more toward health care premiums in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program next year.

"With inflation above 2%, FERS retirees will have their COLAs capped, reducing the real value of their annuities," Shackelford said. "Inflation impacts these FERS retirees the same way as all other retirees, yet they are forced to accept a diet COLA. The Equal COLA Act would remedy this inequity, providing full COLAs to FERS retirees . . . This COLA also does not account for the sharp increase in the enrollee share of health insurance premiums affecting the federal community, which will rise by an average of 13% next year for federal annuitants. While such increases may impact the following year's COLA, they are not yet reflected in the past year's data."

Share This:

NEXT STORY: A closer look at 2025 FEHB premiums

_._,_._,_

---

Groups.io Links:

You receive all messages sent to this group.

View/Reply Online (#3805) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic
Your Subscription | Contact Group Owner | Unsubscribe [prefander.leadersworkshop@blogger.com]

_._,_._,_

[TSPStrategy] OPM’s retirement backlog has fallen off the agency’s list of top management challenges

https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2024/10/opms-retirement-backlog-has-fallen-agencys-list-top-management-challenges/400171/?oref=govexec_today_nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GovExec%20Today:%20Oct.%2011%2C%202024&utm_term=newsletter_ge_today

OPM's retirement backlog has fallen off the agency's list of top management challenges

The Office of Personnel Management's inspector general last month reported that the federal government's dedicated HR agency faces taller tasks in the form of launching a health insurance program for postal workers and verifying enrollees' eligibility for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

October 10, 2024

• OPM
• Inspectors General
• Benefits

Erich Wagner

The Office of Personnel Management Office of the Inspector General last month reported that the agency's backlog of pending retirement claims, long a source of headaches for agency leaders and retiring federal workers alike, no longer constitutes a "top management challenge" for the agency.

The news came in the form of the inspector general's annual report on management challenges in fiscal 2025, in which the oversight office concluded that OPM has made "continued improvements" to the process in recent years.

"For this year's top management challenges, we removed the retirement claims processing backlog due to OPM's continued improvements in this area," the report states. "While there is continued concern regarding Retirement Services meeting its goal of achieving an average case processing time of 60 days or less, OPM is continuing to work to enhance the Retirement Services customer experience, which includes performance measures related to the average number of days to process retirement applications."

During the Biden administration, OPM has taken a more proactive posture towards reducing the backlog of pending retirement claims. The agency boosted staffing and overtime during peak seasons, such as the annual spike in requests around the start of the calendar year, and it created an online guide to help departing federal workers better understand and navigate the retirement process, as well as avoid common errors that contribute to long processing times.

Those measures appear to have made an impact: since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the backlog consistently hovered above 20,000 pending retirement claims, OPM has brought the inventory of retirement requests down to better than pre-pandemic levels. So far this year, only in January—the annual peak of submissions--has the backlog exceeded 20,000 claims, and by the end of last month, it fell to within 2,000 claims of the agency's "steady state" goal of 13,000.

September marked the second straight month in which OPM made headway on its retirement backlog, falling to 14,494 outstanding claims. And measured on a monthly basis, the average time it takes for a retirement claim to be processed fell to 63 days, just three days from the agency's 60-day goal.

Though the retirement backlog no longer dominates OPM's management challenges, the agency should turn its focus toward insuring the "financial integrity" of its benefits programs—namely OPM's role administering federal workers' employer-sponsored insurance benefits. That includes the successful rollout of the new Postal Service Health Benefits Program, which is slated to begin when the federal benefits open season begins Nov. 11.

"The upcoming first Open Season of the PSHBP will present challenges for ensuring that USPS subscribers and members are able to successfully enroll in plans and navigate the PSHBS," the inspector general wrote. "It will be a challenge for OPM to ensure the [Postal Service Health Benefits System] is operational before Open Season due to a narrow development and testing window. OPM is also challenged with ensuring that USPS enrollees receive adequate communication to understand the PSHBS as well as the new requirements to participate in the PSHBP."

OPM received an additional $24 million over fiscal 2024 funding in the September continuing resolution that funded federal agencies until December due to the additional costs associated with standing up USPS' new health insurance program for employees this fall.

The inspector general also continued to prod the agency to address concerns raised in a 2023 Government Accountability Office report that found gaps in the agency's oversight of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to ensure that enrolled beneficiaries are still eligible for benefits. The inspector general's office has previously estimated the cost of ineligible family members retaining benefits as between $500 million and $3 billion per year.

"Ineligible family members receiving FEHBP benefits remains a top management challenge for OPM," the report states. "[OPM] has taken or has plans to take appreciable steps towards addressing this issue, including issuing further and more robust guidance in benefit administration letters as well as monitoring recommendations from GAO. However, ineligible member enrollment in the FEHBP remains an ongoing difficulty for the agency."

As the report states, last April OPM announced new measures aimed at curbing improper payments due to family members retaining benefits despite no longer being eligible, such as when a dependent reaches age 26 or a spouse becomes divorced, including requiring agencies to review family members' eligibility for FEHBP for a random 10% sample of FEHBP enrollees.

Part of the difficulty in auditing FEHBP's beneficiary rolls is the decentralized nature of the system across more than 100 federal agencies. OPM officials have said that they hope the development of the USPS insurance system, which will be centralized within the HR agency, could be a model for building the needed capabilities for OPM to conduct better oversight over FEHBP.

"I've been involved in enough IT projects in my time to say that until it's done, it's not done, but it is our honor to be able to implement this provision for postal employees, and we look forward to turning on a modern system that can be a model for FEHB going forward," said Acting OPM Director Rob Shriver at a meeting of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee last May.

Share This:

NEXT STORY: DHS IG committed 'substantial misconduct,' governmental watchdog finds

_._,_._,_

---

Groups.io Links:

You receive all messages sent to this group.

View/Reply Online (#3804) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic
Your Subscription | Contact Group Owner | Unsubscribe [prefander.leadersworkshop@blogger.com]

_._,_._,_

[TSPStrategy] Time for the fall deadlines - A checklist to help you prioritize as you sort through your federal retirement and insurance benefits

https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2024/10/time-fall-deadlines/400169/?oref=ge_retirementplanning_nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Retirement%20Planning:%20Oct.%2011%2C%202024&utm_term=newsletter_retirement_planning

Time for the fall deadlines

A checklist to help you prioritize as you sort through your federal retirement and insurance benefits.

October 10, 2024 03:00 PM ET

• Retirement Planning
• Retirement Benefits

Tammy Flanagan

Retirement Counseling and Training www.retirefederal.com

It is that time of the year when many federal employees as well as retirees must make some important decisions regarding their federal retirement and insurance benefits. I thought it might be a good time to make a checklist of things that you may be facing this fall so that you can prioritize those that are important to you.

CSRS or FERS Retirement

Are you preparing to retire at the end of 2024? If so, now is the time to submit your CSRS (SF 2801) or FERS (SF 3107) retirement application to your agency HR office. You should also receive a final retirement estimate for your planned retirement date along with a summary of your federal service prepared by a retirement specialist in HR.  If you are covered by FEGLI, you should also submit the Continuation of Life Insurance form SF 2818 along with your retirement application. Review OPM's Quick Guide for Retirement Processing to learn more about your transition from employee to annuitant:   and you can see how much company you will have when you retire by reviewing the latest retirement processing statistics.

Maintain copies of your completed applications and copies of your records of federal service that show your beginning and ending dates of employment, changes in retirement coverage as well as changes in your work schedule. Be sure that you also have documentation of your health and life insurance coverage showing that you have been covered during the last five years of your federal service. Update your CSRS or FERS, FEGLI, and TSP beneficiary designations, if necessary, as well.

If you are planning to postpone applying for retirement under the MRA + 10 provisions of FERS, it is important to review the Application for Deferred or Postponed Retirement, RI 92-19, that you will complete and submit about 60 days before you would like your benefit to begin in the future. At that time, you will not have access to your agency's human resources to assist you. If possible, request a retirement estimate of your future benefit and make copies of your personnel records that show your insurance coverage (you will need to have the last five years of your career covered under FEHB and FEGLI if you plan to reinstate these benefits later).  Also, maintain copies of records of the beginning and ending dates of your periods of federal service and any change in retirement coverage or work schedule. 

Thrift Savings Plan

Learn about your distribution options that are available at https://www.tsp.gov/withdrawals-in-retirement/  

You can learn how much income you might generate from your savings by computing a TSP annuity estimate using the TSP Annuity Calculator:  https://www.tsp.gov/calculators/tsp-annuity-calculator/#panel-1 

There are many options for managing and using your TSP funds in retirement, and to learn more, check out the TSP YouTube channel. 

Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program 

OPM has suspended new applications for FLTCIP in December 2022 for a period of two years. There has been no indication whether this will end this December but watch for possible news during the upcoming Open Season that begins on Nov. 11. If you are currently enrolled, you can also review your coverage online in your My LTCFEDS account. If you need additional information to help you make your decision, call from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET:

1-800-LTC-FEDS (1-800-582-3337)

TTY 1-800-843-3557

Int'l 1-571-730-5938

Federal Employees Health Benefits program and the Postal Service Health Benefits program

New for 2025 is the PSHB for Postal employees and annuitants. It is time to review the information that is currently available prior to the Open Season. 

Open Season will be held from Nov. 11 through Dec. 9, 2024, for FEHB and the new PSHB.

The 2025 premiums have been released for both FEHB and PSHB and prices have gone up more than average on some of the popular plans such as BC/BS Basic (11) and BC/BS Standard (10), Compass Rose High Option (42), Foreign Service Benefit Plan (40), GEHA Elevate Plus (25), GEHA High Option (31), GEHA Standard (31), NALC High Option (32), and SAMBA High Option (44).  Some plans such as the Aetna Advantage Plan (Z2) and APWU High Option (47) will see prices go down for 2025.  Premiums for plans under the PSHB are sometimes lower than the comparable FEHB plan such as NALC High Option (77), and both GEHA High and Standard Options.   

If you do nothing else this open season, review your 2025 plan brochure once they are released and on the front cover, you will find a reference to pages in the brochure that provide the changes in your plan for 2025, a summary of benefits, and the new premiums. You will begin to see the 2025 information popping up on the plan websites.

Medicare and FEHB/PSHB

Most Postal employees will need to choose a plan to complement Medicare A and B when they reach age 65 and have retired. There are some exceptions to the requirement for retirees to be enrolled in Medicare A & B to continue coverage under PSHB. Here are two of those exceptions to this new requirement:

• Postal Service annuitants retired on or before Jan. 1, 2025, not already enrolled in Part B; Family members of these retirees are not required to enroll in Medicare Part B.
• Postal Service employees who are age 64 or older on Jan. 1, 2025, are not required to enroll in Part B after they retire.  Family members of these employees are not required to enroll in Part B after the employee retires.

Learn more about the Medicare requirements at https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/pshb/#url=Medicare-Part-B 

If you are retired and are over age 65, there are several open enrollment periods to be aware of:

Initial Enrollment Period that begins three months before you turn 65 and lasts for three months after your 65th birthday (seven months total). This is when most people enroll in the original Medicare, Parts A and B.

If you are covered by current employment health insurance (either you or your spouse is working and you are covered by FEHB through this current employment), you may delay enrollment in Medicare. Part A does not have a premium if you've paid the 1.45% payroll tax (or your spouse has paid this tax), so there is not much reason to avoid Part A (unless you are contributing to a Health Savings Account). If you are receiving Social Security retirement benefits when you reach age 65, you will be automatically enrolled in A and B. If you want to delay part B until you (or your spouse who has you covered under their current employment health plan) have retired, you will have a Special Enrollment Period that will last for eight months following the month of retirement.  

If you missed your IEP and SEP, there is an annual General Enrollment Period that begins on Jan. 1 and runs through March 31 where you may enroll in Part B. Keep in mind that for every 12 months that you could have been enrolled, but weren't, there is a permanent 10% late enrollment penalty based on the standard Medicare Part B premium ($174.70/month for 2024 and expected to be approximately $185/month in 2025).   

This open season, be sure to learn about the additional prescription drug benefits that many FEHB plans will be including in 2025 for those with Medicare A and/or B enrollment. New for the 2024 plan year was an opportunity for eligible enrollees to receive additional savings and enhanced benefits through a Prescription Drug Plan Employer Group Waiver Plan) offered by 10 FEHB plans. This program will be expanded for the 2025 plan year.  This is in addition to the 28 FEHB plans offering a Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan (MA-PD) EGWP in 2024. 

Medicare Part D 

New for the 2024 plan year was an opportunity for eligible enrollees to receive additional savings and enhanced benefits through a Prescription Drug Plan Employer Group Waiver Plan (PDP-EGWP) offered by 10 FEHB plans. This program will be expanded for the 2025 plan year.  This is in addition to the 28 FEHB plans that offered a Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan (MAPD) EGWP in 2024.  This open season, be sure to learn about the additional PDP-EGWP or MAPD benefits that more FEHB plans and all PSHB plans will be included in 2025 for those with Medicare A and/or B enrollment.  FEHB members may choose to use the Medicare PDP-EGWP drug coverage or opt out of Part D and use the drug benefit available in the FEHB plan. Most of the FEHB plans offering a Medicare Advantage option will include the MAPD as the drug benefit of that option. Postal annuitants who are automatically enrolled in the Part D benefit under the PSHB enrollment must remain enrolled in Part D, otherwise risk losing drug coverage altogether, unless they choose to pay for a Part D plan.   

Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program

After you have selected your FEHB/PSHB coverage for 2025, check to see if your health plan provides dental or vision care benefits. If not, or if you need more coverage, select one of the national/international dental plans.  There will be a series of webinars and a virtual health fair available at benefeds.com where you can learn more about this program. 

Federal Flexible Spending Account Program

Employees should also consider the amount of money to set aside in a tax-free flexible spending account programs offered through the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program. Visit https://www.fsafeds.gov/support/eligibleexpenses for all of the eligible expenses where you can spend your allocated funds. It is not too late to use the funds that you have contributed in 2024. Check out the options for healthcare, dependent care and, one for dental and vision expenses specifically for individuals covered under a high deductible health plan who use a Health Savings Account. 

Related articles

The Postal Service Health Benefits program, prescription coverage and Open Season 2025

A closer look at 2025 FEHB premiums

Share This:

NEXT STORY: Cost-of-living adjustments will decline for federal retirees again in 2025

_._,_._,_

---

Groups.io Links:

You receive all messages sent to this group.

View/Reply Online (#3803) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic
Your Subscription | Contact Group Owner | Unsubscribe [prefander.leadersworkshop@blogger.com]

_._,_._,_