Navigating FEHB Open Enrollment – Tips and Key Changes for 2024

11.8.24: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

11.8.24: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Welcome back to the federal retirement Show. I'm your host, Val Majewski with American Benefits Exchange. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us, to view our content, to listen to what we have to say. Because as I always mention, it is about you, the federal employee who is looking for accurate information when it comes to benefits and retirement and what direction you should go, and you have questions that you need answered. And hopefully you can find those answers here, either on this episode or some of our previous ones. So I highly encourage you go to wherever you listen to podcasts, whether that is, uh, on any of those things or go to our website, uh, federal Retirement show.com and view all of our previous episodes. See all of the content that we have there for you, over 100 of them, so that you can get your questions answered and if you have additional questions, please fill out the form that's on our website and you can request a personalized benefits review where you can get all those additional questions answered. So today I want to talk to you about federal employee health benefits and open enrollment. Open season is upon us. It's coming up here on November 11th is when it starts and it runs until December 9th. This is where you have the ability to change your health insurance plan. And I just want to go over some of the the things that are going on this year that you should be aware of when it comes to your open enrollment.

Speaker1:
Now, it doesn't mean that you have to change your plan. You certainly don't have to. You can stick with the same plan that you currently have, but just take a look at some of the things that are going on and make sure you're in the right situation. So I'm going through some of my notes here, and I just want to make sure OPM, they do have some, uh, nice tools for you. If you go to opm.gov, you can check out their site for open enrollment, and you can look at and compare all the different plans that are out there. Right. You can do a comparison tool. There's a comparison tool for the VIP plan, which is the vision plan, the dental and vision stuff. Um, there's different things that they have for you. So you can be up to speed on all the different plans, so you'll know that you're making the right decision because you want to see if anything changes as far as costs or benefits. Because I'll say as we go, you know, you might decide that you're going to stick with the same plan, or you might know what plan you're going to utilize. And that plan may have changed. You're not you're not certain that it's exactly the same as it was before. So while the plan name might be the same, you want to make sure that the benefits are the same or that what they're covering is the same.

Speaker1:
Now, important to note this year there's going to be a price increase on, uh, federal employee health benefit plans. The the average cost for federal employee health benefit plans is going up by 13.5%. Now that's the average. It doesn't mean that every plan is going up by that much. And you can find that by searching online and looking at some of the averages and things of that nature. Um, but just understand that you're probably going to see a price increase, especially have a pretty decent plan. So let's just make sure that if you do have any questions, you do have things that you want to cover. As far as that, I'm not going to consider myself the foremost expert in all of those plans. I don't know if anybody really could be. Things change so rapidly with those plans, but we can dive a little deeper. We can see what what is all covered. Um, check out any publications that these companies have to see if they say what has changed or enhancements, whether it's not just a negative thing if coverages are dropping off, but if there are any enhancements, any new coverages that are being added to certain plans. So you just want to make sure because it could vary by area. It can vary by state. Um, it can vary by plan. It can vary by company. What's going to to change. Now, while some things are, you know, changing as far as cost, there are going to be some new benefits added to most plans.

Speaker1:
You can check to see again what is. But I know a lot has added when it comes to fertility benefits. Um, you know, things like artificial insemination or early drugs or IVF. Um, there's also things added for mental health and things of that nature. So just if you need these extra benefits, just be aware that most, if not all of these plans should be adding those benefits to them. One of the questions that I get asked a lot by federal employees, especially if both husband and wife, um, or both are covered by an fhlbb plan, you know, is it beneficial to have, uh, two self-only plans? A self plus one plan? Should I keep the family plan? You know, what is the best one for you? Now, I encourage you to go to the different sites that you're going to be enrolling in, right? If it's blue Cross blue. Excuse me, blue cross. For example, go to their website. They have a website dedicated to the federal employee programs and you can see the costs. You can see the plans and you can determine which one is right for you based upon those costs. Because there are some which, uh, the cost for the family plan would actually be cheaper than the self plus one. So if you're thinking, oh, my kids are grown, they're they've aged out of my plan. I don't need them anymore.

Speaker1:
I'm going to reduce coverage or reduce it down to self plus one. There are some where the self plus family is actually cheaper than the self plus one. And in the case where both uh, members of the, the household or the or the couple are federal employees, then it might be more or less expensive. More cost effective is what I'm going to say less expensive to get two self only plans. There's a there's a lot of examples that I've run for federal employees where you run the cost analysis, and it is cheaper for them to get two self-only plans. If there's no other kids, no other dependents. Nobody else needs to be covered instead of sticking with a self plus one. So look into those for for the new rates that are coming out for the 2025 year, and see if it makes more sense for you to stay with the family, go to self plus one, or to stay with two individual plans if both are federal employees. So just check that out because again, you want to make sure when when we talk about maximizing or optimizing your benefits and retirement, one of those things is reducing costs that are going out. And if the more you can reduce costs, the more keeping your the more that goes to your bank account, or the more that can go to retirement without changing your net. Take home pay. So you want to reduce cost as much as possible. Make your health benefit plan selection as efficient or as effective as possible, not just from the benefits, but again the cost.

Speaker1:
So there are some of those plans that are available. Um, that will have a cheaper cost for against self only or self and family compared to the self plus one. As I mentioned, it starts on November 11th and ends on December 9th. You want to make sure you get your election in. So go. And if you need the link to the website, if you need to know where to go to pick your plan, reach out to us. We can provide that link for you so you know where you're going. If you need the link to the OPM website so that you can go use the comparison tools or things like that. We can send that to you. Just reach out to us via our website, fill out that form, ask us those questions, and we can make sure that we're getting you what you need, but you don't want to just choose it based on, you know, brand recognition or because your neighbor did or because your colleague did. You want to make sure you're researching these plans to choose the right one for the next coming year? So compare them. There's a lot of things that could have changed in your health over the past year as well. Maybe you've gotten new prescription medications or there's new treatments that you're on, you want to make sure that your new plan will cover that.

Speaker1:
And I say that a lot. Just don't assume anything. We all know what happens when we assume, but I want to make sure that you are getting the appropriate coverage. I keep saying make sure because I want to reiterate that I want to, uh, want you to be 100% positive that you're choosing the appropriate plan. Now, for those that are over the age of 65, there's a couple of things here, because I get asked a lot about Medicare, and we've done some episodes on Medicare and how it works with the federal employee health benefits. Now, if you're still working, Medicare comes about when you turn 65, and you will automatically get part A. Part A is what you've been paying for the entire time. Uh, that's that's part of the FICA deductions that you have. You pay towards Medicare and you will get that part A at age 65. The question is whether or not you need to select part B of Medicare. And if you're still working, you're not required to. But once you stop working past the age of 65, then you'll have a choice to make. Do you need to select part B or not? And there's a number of factors that go into that. Um, for a lot of folks that I talked to, their, their health benefits, um, their and part A will cover a lot of their out-of-pocket costs. So there's a, um, a positive there. If you feel like, hey, I don't need part B of Medicare because everything's already taken care of, fine.

Speaker1:
But I just want to go over some of the the pros and cons here to getting it. Now, if you got part B, I just will say this. Part A of Medicare covers hospitals. Part B covers doctors and specialists. And when you retire Medicare becomes your primary. Then your FB becomes your secondary. And essentially you should not have any out of pocket costs or much out of pocket at all. If you have Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, as well as your FB plan in retirement after the age of 65. Everything should be taken care of for the most part, but understand that part B comes with an additional cost. Currently for 2024, the cost for that is $170 a month in addition to your FB premium. So you're paying two premiums now, one for FB and one for Medicare Part B, and that 170 could be higher if you've made too much money in the past couple of years, because there's a lookback period of two years to determine if you fall under something called Irma. We've talked about Irma before, and that's where you can see an increase in your part B premium. If you made too much money and it's always a two year lookback, so it's based on your income from two years ago to determine if you've got to pay a surplus or you have a surcharge, I should say on your part B premium. So take a look at those factors.

Speaker1:
You can look at the guidelines to see if you fall in that section where you're going to get penalized essentially for making too much money, and then your part B premium is going to go up. Same coverage, by the way. Your coverage does not change for part B. Your cost goes up just because you had to happen to make too much money two years ago. And eventually, hopefully that will come back down if your retirement income is less than you were making a couple years back, but you may get charged temporarily a higher amount. So just understand that part of it. There are folks that that have different schools of thought on this when it comes to, um, whether or not to choose part B. This is a case by case scenario. But just understand this too, that if you do not choose to take part B when you're first eligible to do so, and you decide you want to get it later down the road. Now, not only did I say the cost for part B could be higher if you make too much money, if you don't select part B right away and choose to get it later, you will be penalized and there will be an extra charge that you're going to pay for part B going forward because you're not select it right away. So do your research as you approach. Talk to somebody as you approach age 65 or as you're approaching retirement.

Speaker1:
If you're still working beyond 65 so you can make the right choice, you can determine if taking part B is right for you or not. So just look at all the different options. So I said there's there are a lot of tools out there. There are a lot of things that you can utilize and there's a lot of different opinions. But ultimately nobody knows your situation better than you. So if you want to make sure again, I'm going to use that word that you're choosing the right FB plan, or if you're planning on retiring and you're looking to see if Medicare Part B is right for you, talk to an expert. Talk to somebody that can help you review these plans. Sort through the mess because it can be very confusing and make a best guess choice. You know, educated choice, a research choice, and not just throwing a dart at the wall and saying, hey, I like this company. I've heard that they're very good, And I'm going to choose this plan. You want to make sure it's the right one for you and your family. Your spouse is going to be considered in this as well. Because what if their medications and things change? So it's not just a one person deal. If you're married, you got to take a look at their situation and medications, how often they go to the doctor, diagnosis, things that are coming down the pike and just see which one is going to be right.

Speaker1:
So if you do want that link or any of those links to, um, opium so that you can do the comparison, uh, take a look at all the different plans. We can send that to you if you want to review some of of them and you want to have some deeper conversations, take a deeper dive into the different plans to determine if it's right for you. You can reach out to us as well. But I said open season is, um, almost upon us. November 11th to December 9th. Get your selection in. Choose the right one for you and your family for 2025. And I'm going to say it one more time. Make sure it is the right one, because you do not want to go through 2025 like, ah, I made the wrong selection. This is not the right plan. I did not know this or I didn't know this changed or this updated or whatever. You can research it and pick the right choice so you and your family are properly covered for 2025. And then we could do it all over again next year around this time and, and go through all the different plans and the changes that are going to be happening at that point. I'll say this one more time. If you do have questions, you do have concerns. You want to sort through the mess, reach out to an expert. Hopefully that can be us. Uh, whether it's not if it's me personally or one of our reps that are across the country, you fill out that form on our website, Federal Retirement Show.com, we will get back to you not only do a full benefits and retirement review, but save your FB and open enrollment questions so that we can get you the information you look for, get you the answers, point you in the right direction, help you research this.

Speaker1:
You can make the best guess, best educated guess that you possibly can. So as I said at the beginning, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to join us to view our content. Go back and I encourage you to view our other episodes. Look at all the different information that we're providing for you. If you do have questions, go to the website, fill out the form. We'll be happy to get in touch. Be on the lookout for future content. And if there's something that you have not seen, something, a question that you have that we have not answered, an episode that you think we or a topic we should do an episode on, reach out to us also. I love taking suggestions. A lot of this is because federal employees have had suggestions and have reached out to us and have had questions. We'd love to take your advice because this is again about you, the federal employee. We want to make sure you have all the information so you can make the best decisions. Thanks again for joining us. See you again on a future episode.

Sonix is the world’s most advanced automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform. Fast, accurate, and affordable.

Automatically convert your mp3 files to text (txt file), Microsoft Word (docx file), and SubRip Subtitle (srt file) in minutes.

Sonix has many features that you'd love including world-class support, upload many different filetypes, collaboration tools, enterprise-grade admin tools, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.