Featured Articles
Featured Articles are the ones that we recommend for you to read before you read anything else. These articles will cover all the main talking points that are prevalent these days and you will be able to grasp exactly what you need via these articles. Our featured articles are very well written and are always worth reading.
Visit our featured articles section to know more.
Public Sector Retirement, LLC (‘PSR,’ ‘PSRetirement.com’ or the ‘Site’) is a news channel focusing on federal and postal retirement information. Although PSR publishes information believed to be accurate and from authors that have proclaimed themselves as experts in their given field of endeavor but PSR cannot guarantee the accuracy of any such information not can PSR independently verify such professional claims for accuracy. Expressly, PSR disclaims any liability for any inaccuracies written by authors on the Site, makes no claims to the validity of such information. By reading any information provided by June Kirby or other Authors you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by the Terms of Use
TRICARE Young Adult Premiums to Rise
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced higher health insurance premiums for TRICARE’s Young Adult plan.
TRICARE Young Adult is a health plan for certain young adults who are children of military personnel and retirees. Beginning January 1, 2016,
for TRICARE’s Young Adult Prime option, rates will increase to $306 per month; and,
for TRICARE’s Young Adult Standard option, rates will increase to $228 per month.
Department of Defense release NR-411-15, dated October 28, 2015, explained that TRICARE must set these premiums to cover the full cost of TRICARE Young Adult (TYA) beneficiaries. In addition, this release encouraged TYA beneficiaries to “explore all of their health care options and to pick the plan best suited to their needs.”
Regular TRICARE coverage (for example, under a parent’s plan) is available to young adults up to the age of 21 (or 23 if the person is enrolled in college). After that, TRICARE Young Adult is available.
To qualify for TRICARE Young Adult, an individual must be:
- an unmarried child of an eligible sponsor (for example, a retired service member);
- at least 21 but not yet 26 years of age and no longer eligible for coverage under a sponsor’s plan;
- not eligible for an employer plan based on the individual’s own employment, and
- not otherwise eligible for TRICARE coverage.
by John Zottoli
Federal Employees Receive Boost in Pay
Due to the newly published rules that will give rise to the 13 new locality pay areas thereby expanding the prevalent ones in the process too, around a million federal employees will get their hands on an extraordinary pay rise come January!
This general schedule pay system is applicable to the incomes of around 1.6 million federal employees that are currently pursuing their careers in the white collar occupations below the senior-most designations. As already known, there are separate pay systems for officers at executive and other senior positions. The blue collar employees also share a different pay system.
The general locality pay system takes the location of employment as an input and not the location of residence of the officer. This results in a difference in income based on different locations but for the same job. For Alaska and Hawaii, there are currently around 30 city areas, not inclusive of the separate small localities. “Rest of the US” or RUS is composite of all the rest of the localities.
If an officer moves from a RUS locality this could in turn mean a pay boost since generally it is considered the least paid locality. For instance, a normal income for an officer at GS-13’s first level point is around 80,000 in the RUS locality but around 90 thousand in the Baltimore locality. Another worth-highlighting point here is that in the highest paid locality i.e. San Francisco, it goes up to around a 100 thousand.
Most of the federal employees that are officers are expecting pay boosts of up to 1.5 percent by the start of the next year.
This pay rise will be compensated in two parts: 1 percent will be awarded to everyone and the remaining portion of the raise will be distributed amongst the localities after the pay figures are compared and analyzed. This will result in slightly different pay boosts ranging from 1.2 to 1.4 depending on localities.
It’s expected and also proposed by the pay council that more and more localities be added in the coming years in order to ensure that the pay gaps be minimized and certain rudimentary threshold values be met. Positive efforts like these should always be lauded.
Medicare Premiums to Rise for Some Retirees
On Monday, November 1, President Obama signed legislation that averts what, for many federal retirees, would have been a very large increase in their Medicare Part B insurance premiums. Instead of facing a $50 plus increase, federal retirees who do not receive Social Security payments will see an increase of about $19 a month. This includes a $15.80 a month increase in their basic premium, plus a $3 monthly surcharge.
Retirees whose Social Security income covers their Medicare Part B premiums will see no increase. Current law limits the increases in Medicare insurance premiums that Social Security recipients must pay.
Increases in Medicare premiums may be no larger than a recipient’s increase in Social Security payments. For the 2016 calendar year, there will be no increase in Social Security payments, consequently Social Security recipients are protected from 2016 increases in Medicare Part B premiums.
However, this “hold harmless” provision only applies to retirees whose Social Security income pays their Medicare Part B insurance. Before the November 1 legislation became law, other Medicare Part B beneficiaries would have faced a premium increase from $104.90 to $159.30 per month.
No such “hold harmless” protection exists for Federal retirees who do not get Social Security. Without a change in legislation, these retirees would have had to pay the extra $50 plus in monthly Part B premiums.
To offset lower revenue for the Medicare Trust Fund, Medicare beneficiaries will pay a $3 per month surcharge, for about five years beginning in 2016. Social Security recipients will not pay the $3 surcharge in 2016. However they will pay the surcharge in any future years when their “hold harmless” provision does not apply.
The November 1 legislation reflected a broad-ranging budget and debt-limit agreement negotiated between the President and the Congress. The legislation avoids a default on U.S. Government debt payments. It also raises caps on federal defense and non-defense spending. An additional provision of this legislation caps the increases in Medicare premiums.
— by John Zottoli
Federal Benefits Protected by New Budget
The Senate averted a potential government shutdown by passing a two-year budget that raised the debt ceiling. The package will now go to President Obama for approval. Congress passed the bill to prevent the nation from reaching its debt limit.
Conservatives opposed the bill, which involved a month-long negotiation and puts off another debt crisis until March of 2017. In addition to keeping Congress away from another debt ceiling for two years, the bill also keeps federal employees pay and benefits safe.
No Targeting of Federal Employee Benefits
Congress passed the bill without any provisions that would target federal employee benefits or pay. The final draft of the bill is very different from earlier agreements including the 2014 deal, which forced new employees to contribute more to their pension.
The President of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association gave his approval of the deal to the press saying, “We hope our leaders in Washington are learning, finally, that they cannot balance the budget on the backs of federal workers and retirees,” Richard Thissen said.
Federal retirees received more reprieve in this Bipartisan Budget. This year there was no cost of living adjustment due to lower inflation. This lack of COLA adjustment raised major concerns because of the rising costs of Medicare. The lack of a cost of living adjustment means that individuals who are not “held harmless” under their Medicare plan would have to pay an extra $54 per month to help offset the loss of income from those who would not see a raise in premium because of no COLA.
The bipartisan bill prevents some federal retirees, including individuals qualified under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) from having to pay the additional costs. The new act protects individuals for this year, but does nothing to address a possible increase for next year.
Thissen addressed this portion of the agreement saying that the compromise is good but more needs to be done. “While I believe this is a good compromise for the 2016 premiums, Congress and the administration must fix this situation… Millions of individuals should not have to live with financial uncertainty just because their Medicare premiums do no come from social security,” he said.
Potential Government Shutdown Still Exists
While the new budget agreement protects federal benefits and federal retiree benefits, it does not solve other funding problems, including the ability to provide funding or some agencies. If the White House does not come up with a way to fund agencies before the end of the year, we could still see a government shutdown. Congress has until December 11 to either come up with a resolution or pass a spending package to avoid closing doors.
New Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spoke out against the budget deal. Despite efforts to filibuster against the bill, the debate ended on Wednesday while Paul was away at a debate. Paul did speak in opposition to the bill and asked legislators to accept his more balanced budget. Paul took to Twitter and the media to encourage Senators to vote against the new agreement, but the senate voted to approve the bill around 1 a.m. Congress will be back in action on Monday to take on further spending issues to avoid a government shutdown next month.
