The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program makes health insurance available to all eligible permanent full-time and part-time federal employees. The program allows eligible employees to choose among many plans and options. To assist you in making an informed decision concerning your health insurance coverage and select a plan that best fits your needs, please review the information available on the Office of Personnel Management's FEHB website

Following is a brief listing of key program features:
 

• New employees may enroll within 60 days of employment. Complete and return your election form (SF2809) to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it within the 60-day window even if you waive coverage. If you do not enroll during this time, you will be able to enroll during the next annual Open Season. Open season for health insurance is held in November and December each year and permits employees to enroll or change their previous elections.

• Coverage is usually effective at the beginning of the pay period after the enrollment form is received by the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . However, your health insurance carrier may not process your enrollment for 4-6 weeks AFTER this date. If you need health care services before you have received your enrollment package from your carrier, you may have to pay out of your out-of-pocket for those services. When you receive your enrollment package from your carrier, you can request reimbursement of your out-of-pocket expenses.

• Both Self Only and Self and Family options are available. The Self and Family option provides coverage for all eligible family members, including your spouse and children under age 26. For more information on eligibility requirements, please review the guidelines at the OPM FEHB website.

• "Qualifying Life Events" (QLEs) may allow you to enroll in or change your health insurance coverage outside of an Open Season. Examples of life events include marriage, divorce, loss of coverage under your spouse's policy, and loss of coverage for a child under the other parent's policy. There are specific time limits for enrolling or changing your enrollment due to QLEs, so please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it as soon as you anticipate you might have a special life event.

• Your share of the premium is deducted from your bi-weekly pay. Retiring employees can continue their FEHB coverage into retirement at the same cost as an employee if they've been enrolled in the FEHB program for the five years immediately before retirement.

Health insurance premiums are automatically "pre-tax" deductions for active employees. This is usually a benefit because it lowers your taxable income, but it also imposes some additional enrollment restrictions. You will be automatically enrolled for Premium Conversion; you don't need to fill out a form to initiate this benefit. You do have a choice to waive premium conversion if you wish.

The Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) is available to all federal employees who are eligible for health insurance on an enrollee-pay-all basis.  Premiums are withheld from salary on a pre-tax basis.

Information on the plans that are available and enrollment procedures can be found at BENEFEDS or contact directly at 877-888-FEDS (877-888-3337).

You must enroll on-line within 60 days of your employment; otherwise, you will need to wait until open season or in connection with a qualifying life event

The Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program makes life insurance available to all permanent federal employees. Eligible employees are automatically covered for Basic (at a cost of $0.15 biweekly for each $1,000 of coverage) as of the date of employment unless coverage is waived.

Basic coverage is equal to your annual basic pay rounded up to the next $1,000 plus $2,000.

In addition to the basic insurance, the other types and amounts of coverage that are available to you are as follows:
 

• Option A-Standard provides $10,000 of coverage.

• Option B-Additional is equal to one, two, three, four, or five times your annual basic pay rounded up to the next $1,000.

• Option C-Family is available in multiples of one to five. Each multiple provides $5,000 coverage on your spouse and $2,500 coverage for each eligible dependent child.

The OPM website provides a FEGLI calculator that may be of assistance to you in determining the appropriate amount of life insurance coverage, as well as the cost, that meets your personal goals.

Complete and return your election form SF2817 to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it within the 60-day window even if you only want the automatic Basic coverage.
 

If you waive basic coverage altogether or elect basic but no other optional coverage during that first 60 days, you will generally have to wait one year and take a physical examination, or wait for a special event (such as marriage or the birth of a child) to elect additional coverage.

You must be enrolled for FEGLI coverage for the five years immediately preceding retirement in order to continue your life insurance as a retiree.

The TSP is a tax-deferred retirement savings and investment plan for Federal employees under CSRS and FERS. Its purpose is to provide additional retirement income while saving on taxes right now. (Neither TSP contributions nor their earnings are taxed until they are withdrawn.) The TSP offers federal civilian employees the same type of savings and tax benefits that many private companies offer under "401(k)" plans.
 

TSP information is also available on the TSP website. If you need additional TSP information, contact us.
 

Following is a brief summary of the most significant TSP benefits and provisions:
 

Employee Contributions
 

Effective August 1, 2010: As a new federal employee or a rehired (with a break in service) federal employee covered under FERS or CSRS, you will be automatically enrolled to contribute three percent of your basic pay each pay period to your TSP account. These contributions will be invested in the Government Securities Investment (G) fund.
 

New employees who want to change (increase or decrease) their TSP contributions can submit a TSP-1 form or make an election using MyEPP at any time. TSP-1s should be sent directly to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Contribution elections will be effective the beginning of the pay period following receipt of the change.
 

New employees who do not wish to participate in the TSP are required to submit a TSP-1 during the first pay period to stop the automatic contribution. A refund of automatic TSP contributions is available directly from TSP. The request for a refund must be made within 90 days after the first automatic contribution. Transferees, rehires (without a break in service), and current employees retain their existing TSP eligibility.

The Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) places limits on the dollar amount of contributions you can make to the TSP.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) calculates them every year and they can change annually.

For tax year 2012, the elective deferral limit is $17,000.
 

Agency Automatic Contributions and Matching Contributions

FERS employees receive agency automatic and matching contributions. TSP savings are a very important part of the retirement package for FERS employees. FERS employees are strongly encouraged to contribute to the TSP!
 

Agency Automatic (1%) Contributions- An amount your agency contributes to your TSP account that is equal to 1% of your gross basic pay. Your agency makes this contribution to your TSP account even if you do not contribute your own money to your TSP account.

Matching Contributions- When you contribute your own funds to your TSP account, you will also receive matching contributions from your agency. Matching contributions apply to the first 5% of pay that you contribute each pay period. Your contributions are matched dollar for dollar on the first 3% of pay you contribute, then $.50 on the dollar for contributions between 3% and 5%. In order to take full advantage of the agency automatic 1% and matching contributions, employees and newly hired employees (who were automatically enrolled to contribute 3%) need to be contributing at least 5%. This can be done by submitting the TSP-1 form to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or by making a change using MyEPP.

Although the TSP is still a great investment, CSRS employees do not receive agency automatic contributions or matching funds.
 

Investments
 

The TSP offers a choice of six investment funds. When your TSP account is initially established, contributions are placed in the G Fund; however, you may change your investment allocations at any time by accessing your TSP account. Detailed information about each of the funds and historical rates of return can be found on the TSP website.
 

TSP Loans
 

The TSP Loan Program gives you access to the money you have contributed to the TSP and to the earnings on that money. (You cannot borrow any agency contributions or any earnings attributable to those contributions.) There are two types of loans-a general-purpose loan, and a loan for the purchase of your primary residence. Before you consider a loan, talk to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
 

Transferring Funds into the TSP
 

The TSP can accept transfers (or rollovers) of eligible distributions from any eligible retirement plan, including a traditional IRA. Employees should use the TSP-60 form (link to this form) to transfer eligible funds into the TSP. A transfer or rollover cannot be used to establish a TSP account.
 

TSP Catch-up Contributions
 

Eligible employees are permitted to make tax-deferred "catch-up" contributions from their basic pay to their TSP accounts. Catch-up contributions made are in addition to regular TSP contributions. An employee who meets all of the following requirements is eligible to make catch-up contributions: 

1. The employee must be age 50 or older in the calendar year the catch-up contributions are made. The participant's birthday can be as late as December 31 of that year.
2. The employee must be at work or on paid leave during the pay period in order to make contributions.
3. The employee must be contributing the maximum annual contribution limit for the current tax year.

You can elect to make catch-up contributions, change the amount of your catch-up contributions, or stop your catch-up contributions at any time by completing a TSP-1-C form or by accessing MyEPP. Elections are effective at the beginning of the pay period after receipt of the election or change. Catch-up contributions are invested according to your most recent contribution allocation on file with the TSP.

For tax year 2012, the TSP catch-up contribution limit is $5,500.

Are accounts set up by employees with pre-tax funds to be reimbursed for eligible medical and/or dependent care expenses. These are similar to Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements, but are not connected to specific health plans; in fact, you do not need to be enrolled in an FEHB plan to participate.

There are three types of FSAs available:

• Health Care FSA (HCFSA)

• Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA)

• Limited Expense Health Care FSA (LEX HCFSA)

Employees should be conservative when estimating how much money to allocate to an FSA, as the IRS prohibits a refund of excess money in an FSA account at the end of the Benefit Period.

In order to help you use all of the funds allocated for the current calendar year, the Benefit Period includes a "grace period" from January 1 to March 15 of the following year.  During this grace period, you may continue to incur eligible expenses and be reimbursed for them. You will forfeit any money not claimed by midnight Eastern Time on April 30 following the end of the Benefit Period.

As a new employee, you have 60 days from your entry on duty date to enroll in an FSA. However, you must enroll no later than October 1 of any plan year. If you are hired on or after October 1, you cannot participate for the current Plan Year. You can elect an FSA for the next plan year during the FSAFEDS Open Season, which begins in November and runs concurrent with the FEHB Open Season. If you are hired after the Open Season ends in mid-December, you can still make an election for the next plan year. Elections made are valid for the entire plan year. If you experience a Qualified Status Change, you may be permitted to change your election outside of Open Season.

You can enroll in the flexible spending account program on the FSAFEDS website or contact a FSAFEDS representative directly at 877-372-3337.

Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) helps pay for assistance with activities of daily living if you cannot care for yourself due to illness, injury, or aging. Eligible employees must apply for coverage with Long Term Care (FLTCIP) Partners.

You and your spouse have 60 days from your date of hire to apply for FLTCIP using the abbreviated application. You, your spouse, and eligible family members (including, but not limited to, your parents, parents-in-law, adult children, and same-sex domestic partner) can apply at any time using the full application.

Applications are available on the LTC Partners website, or contact LTC Partners at 800-582-3337 or TDD 800-843-3557.

Retirement Is one of the most important events in your life. A successful retirement takes careful planning on your part …planning that hopefully began early in your working career to help insure that you will have the income you need when you want to retire.

As a federal employee, your retirement coverage is determined by the following:

You are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) if:

• You are an employee first hired after 12/31/1983; or

• You were rehired with a break in service of more than 3 days after 12/31/1986, with less than 5 years of creditable service; or

• You elected to transfer to FERS.

You are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) if:

• You are an employee who was hired before 1984; or

• You were previously covered by CSRS and were rehired by the Federal government with less than a 1-year break in service.

You are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System Offset (CSRS Offset) if:

• You are a CSRS employee rehired by the federal government and have a break in service of more than 1 year and at least 5 years of creditable service; or

• You had a break in service after 12/31/1986, had at least 5 years of creditable service as of the last break in service, and have at least 1 day covered by CSRS.

FERS Benefit Overview

There are three parts to the FERS program: the FERS Basic Benefit, Social Security, and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The mandatory deductions for FERS are as follows:

We strongly encourage all FERS employees to contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan since the larger portion of your retirement income will come from your TSP funds.

For detailed information regarding FERS, please refer to the FERS booklet: 

CSRS Benefit Overview

The Civil Service Retirement System is derived from contributions from your pay that are deposited into the Civil Service Retirement Fund. Unlike FERS, CSRS employees do not contribute to Social Security. Therefore, a greater portion of your pay is deducted to fund the retirement system. The deductions for CSRS employees are:

For detailed information regarding CSRS, please refer to the CSRS booklet: 

CSRS Offset

The CSRS Offset employee contributes .8% of their pay to the retirement system, the same as FERS. The benefits however, are calculated similar to that of the CSRS with one exception. At age 62, if a CSRS Offset employee qualifies for Social Security, the CSRS benefit is reduced to "offset" that part of the retiree's Social Security benefit that reflects years of Federal service subject to the Offset Plan. The important thing to remember is that there is no loss of retirement income when the offset is applied. The deductions for CSRS Offset employees are:

For detailed CSRS Offset information, please refer to the CSRS Offset Booklet: 

CSRS and CSRS Offset rehires may elect to transfer to FERS within six months from the date of reemployment.

Credit for Service

Military Service:

If you performed military service before 1957, your active duty time is fully creditable for retirement.

If you performed active duty in the military after 12/31/1956, you may need to make a monetary deposit to make this service creditable for retirement purposes. You will not be charged interest on a deposit for military service if you make the deposit within three years of the date you first become covered under the retirement system. If you do not make your deposit for military service during this "grace period" you will be charged interest on the outstanding balance, compounded annually, two years from the date you first became employed under the retirement system until payment is completed.

Non-Deduction/Refunded Service:

If you were previously employed in a position that was not covered by either CSRS or FERS retirement deductions, you may be eligible to make a deposit plus interest for this service into the retirement system and receive service credit for this time period.

Secondly, if you elected to take a refund of your retirement contributions for a previous period of employment, you might want to consider re-depositing the amount of your refund plus interest to the retirement fund to gain the service credit in your annuity.

Generally speaking, benefits payable by the government in the event of an employee's death (retirement contributions, life insurance, TSP funds, and unpaid compensation) will be paid according to the following order of precedence:

1. Designated beneficiary(s), based on properly completed forms
2. Spouse
3. Children in equal shares, with the share of any deceased child distributed among the descendants of that child
4. Parents in equal shares or the entire amount to the surviving parent
5. Duly appointed executor or administrator of the estate
6. Next of kin as determined by law

If you would like to change the order in which your funds would be paid in the event of your death, you must complete the appropriate Designation of Beneficiary forms and submit the original documents to the address shown on the New Employees Home page. Same-sex domestic partners are not considered as part of the federal order of precedence for payment of benefits upon an employee's death. If you want to designate someone (e.g., same-sex domestic partner, friend, etc.,) that is considered outside the federal order of precedence, you must file a specific designation.

Beneficiary designations for TSP funds (TSP-3) must be submitted directly to the Thrift Savings Plan Service Office at the address listed on the form or by fax to 866-817-5023. Please note beneficiary designation form cannot be submitted to TSP until after your account has been established.