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First, call your plan. If they tell you they haven't gotten the paperwork yet from your retirement system, you may contact your retirement system. If you are a Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuitant or a Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) annuitant, contact OPM at 1-888-767-6738. Before contacting your retirement system, have your annuity information ready: your name, civil service annuity number (beginning with CSA or CSF), phone number and address, and information about your plan, such as the carrier enrollment code.
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The TAMP is the Transitional Assistance Management Program, and it offers transitional TRICARE eligibility to certain separating active duty members and their eligible family members for 180 days. Your Human Resources Office can assist you in determining if you are eligible for transitional TRICARE under the TAMP.
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If you are under premium conversion (see
www.opm.gov/insure/health/faq/premconversion/index.asp), IRS rules govern when you may cancel your FEHB. You may cancel within 60 days of the date you are restored to a civilian position or have another Qualifying Life Event that permits cancellation (see Health Benefits Election Form, SF 2809, at
www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf2809.pdf [848 KB]), or during the next FEHB Open Season. If you are not under premium conversion, you may cancel at any time. In either case, you should be aware of the consequences of cancellation as described in the following question.
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If your FEHB is retroactively reinstated for 6 additional months, FEHB will become the primary payer and TRICARE the secondary payer during the additional 6 month coverage period. Thus, any payments made by TRICARE during that 6-month period could be reconciled with the FEHB carrier and any benefit adjustments could cause a difference in the amounts that you owe. Factors such as covered vs. non-covered services, network vs. out-of-network providers, deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) geographic considerations, and catastrophic coverage applications may alter your total out-of-pocket expenses. Some additional issues for you to consider are:
- If your FEHB plan covers services that TRICARE does not, having FEHB coverage could work to your advantage.
- If TRICARE covers services that FEHB does not, TRICARE as the secondary payer should not adversely work against you since TRICARE would pay its normal benefits in the absence of benefits from the FEHB carrier.
- If your FEHB plan becomes primary and you used TRICARE providers that were out of your FEHB plan's network, you need to determine if you would be better off with just the TRICARE coverage paying benefits alone or would you be better off having FEHB pay as primary and TRICARE as secondary for the out-of-network services.
- You need to determine if shifting deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance from TRICARE to FEHB as the primary carrier enhances or decreases your overall benefits.
- You need to determine how the geographic restriction of having an HMO Plan as primary payer affects the benefits received for you and your family members and how it affects payment from TRICARE as the secondary payer.
- You need to determine if requesting retroactive FEHB for 6 additional months would enable you to meet your catastrophic protection benefits, thus, potentially enhancing your overall payment receipts.
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Spouse Equity:
- If you qualify for Spouse Equity, you can elect FEHB coverage in your own right.
- Your coverage continues indefinitely, as long as you continue to meet the requirements (see next section) and pay your premiums.
- You must pay both the employee and government shares of your plans FEHB premium.
- You do not have to pay the extra 2% administrative charge.
TCC:
- Your coverage is limited. It will end 36 months after your divorce or annulment, or earlier if you do not pay your premiums.
- You must pay both the employee and government shares of your plans FEHB premium, plus an administrative charge equal to 2% of total plan premiums.
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No. There is no provision of law that allows for coverage to continue beyond 24 months during your military duty. However, at the end of the 24 months, you have a 31-day extension of coverage and the right to convert to an individual policy offered by the carrier of your plan. You are not required to provide evidence of insurability for this private coverage. There is no provision in FEHB law that allows for Temporary Continuation of Coverage (TCC) after the 24 months of coverage.
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If you cancel your FEHB, you need to be aware of the following consequences that apply to all employees who cancel their FEHB, including:
- You and your dependents are no longer covered under the FEHB Program.
- You may not reenroll in FEHB until you lose your TAMP coverage or have another qualifying life event (QLE) that permits enrollment, or until the next FEHB Open Season. If you reenroll because you lose TAMP coverage, you must do so from 31 days before to 60 days after your TAMP ends, and use Code 1M on Health Benefits Election Form, SF 2809, at www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf2809 [848 KB]. Additional QLEs that permit enrollment, for example, a change in family status, are listed on SF 2809. If you have one of these QLEs, you must enroll within the timeframes shown.
- If you transfer to another Federal agency, your cancellation follows you and you may not reenroll until you lose your TAMP coverage or have another QLE that permits enrollment, or until the next FEHB Open Season. See above bullet for details.
- If you separate from your employment, you will not be eligible for temporary continuation of coverage (TCC) because you will not have any FEHB enrollment to continue. Also, you will not have an FEHB enrollment to convert to an individual policy with your former insurance carrier.
- If you retire, you will not have an FEHB enrollment to continue into retirement.
- If you die, you will not have an FEHB family enrollment for your survivors to continue, even if they are eligible for a survivor annuity.
Note: Your agency may ask you to sign a statement stating that you understand these consequences.
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As long as the annuitant was enrolled in Self and Family coverage when he/she suspended FEHB coverage and made arrangements to leave a survivor annuity, the survivor annuitant can reenroll in the FEHB Program under the same conditions as an annuitant.
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No. If you remarry, your new spouse and his/her children cannot receive health benefits coverage under your survivor annuitant enrollment. If, however, you are a widow(er) survivor annuitant who is also receiving an annuity based on your own Federal career or who is a current Federal employee, you may be eligible to transfer your enrollment to your retirement annuity or your employing agency in order to provide coverage for your new spouse and his or her children.
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First, have your doctor contact the plan to discuss the situation. You and your doctor can provide your plan with information to support your contention that the surgery should be authorized, such as medical records that indicate the need for the surgery, and ask your plan to reconsider its decision. If the plan reconsiders its decision but continues to uphold its denial, and after considering the plan's rationale you still disagree, consult the disputed claims section of your plan's brochure for specific information on how to write to the Office of Personnel Management to ask us to review the claim.
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- It saves time.
- It's convenient.
- It's reliable.
Employee Express eliminates the need for completing and submitting forms by replacing forms with user-friendly technology. You'll never again have to make a special trip to personnel to drop off forms; instead, you can process changes or review your current information anytime and nearly anyplace. And perhaps best of all, Employee Express automatically checks your transaction -- a feature that wasn't available using paper forms.
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If the organization agrees to adopt our plan, premium conversion may apply to Federal employees on assignment to an international organization.
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Only the amount of your FEHB contribution will be allotted back to your agency. If your FEHB contribution changes, the allotment will change.
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A formulary is a list of both generic and brand name drugs that are preferred by your health plan. Often, many drugs on the market produce the same results equally well. Health plans will choose formulary drugs that are just as safe and effective as the alternatives but cost less. A team of pharmacists and physicians meet to review the formulary and make changes as necessary.
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We ensure that the plans provide the benefits described in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program brochures. The health plans often make Preferred Provider Agreements and other arrangements with providers which are contractual arrangements between the carriers and the providers.
Because of the discounts that a plan realizes through its contracts with PPO providers, the plan is able to reimburse a higher percentage of the negotiated PPO allowance when PPO providers are utilized. It would not be cost effective for the plan to reimburse at the higher level when the provider is not giving a discount. Furthermore, much of the benefit you receive from using PPO providers comes from the PPO provider's agreement not to bill you for more than the negotiated PPO allowance. Non-PPO providers are under no such obligation. In some areas of the country, it is much more difficult for a plan to arrange PPO contracts for all types of services. In areas where there are no PPO providers, you can still receive your plan's regular benefits, as opposed to the incentivized PPO benefit. If you are overseas, check with your plan to see how they pay the claims of non-PPO providers – some plans have special reimbursement allowances for overseas claims.
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No. You would need to wait for Open Season. It is not uncommon for providers to leave plans mid-year. Other plan providers will be available to provide care.
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If you disagree with the plan’s decision on your claim, the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program provides for an appeal process. Check your plan’s FEHB brochure to see if the service is covered, limited, or excluded. Review and follow the directions in the disputed claims section (Section 8) of the
brochure. This section will tell you how to ask the plan to reconsider your claim. You must explain why (in terms of the applicable brochure coverage provisions) you feel the services should be covered.
If the plan again denies the claim, read the plan's decision letter carefully. Then, check your plan's
brochure again. If you still disagree with the plan's decision, the disputed claims section of the brochure will tell you how to write to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to ask us to review the claim.
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You can keep your Spouse Equity coverage indefinitely if you pay your premiums on time, don't remarry before age 55, and don't lose your entitlement to an annuity or survivor annuity.
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Yes. The loss of your transitional TRICARE is a Qualifying Life Event and you may request an enrollment change from 31 days before to 60 days after you lose your TRICARE. See Code 1M on Health Benefits Election Form, SF 2809, at
www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf2809.pdf [848 KB]. Once your agency reinstates your enrollment on the Notice of Change in Health Benefits Enrollment (Standard Form 2810), they should immediately process your request to change your enrollment.
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No. According to the FEHB law, if you or your former spouse didnt notify the employing office within the 60-day limit, your opportunity to elect TCC ends 60 days after your divorce or annulment.
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