December 2013 NARFE Magazine

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Senior Executive Service

P.36

FEHBP PLAN Changes

COVER STORY

You Can Take It With You choose the TSP option that fits your needs

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Volume 89 • Number 12

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WashingTon Watch

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Chained CPI Would Mean Sacrifices, NARFE Says

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Shutdown Ends, But the Benefits Battle Goes On

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Employer Contribution Continues for Hill

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NARFE Weighs In on Postal Reform

10 NARFE Bill Tracker Columns

4 From the President 52 Managing Money

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54 The Informed Citizen Cover Story

56 Alzheimer’s Update

You can take it with you. About-to-be-retired federal employees must decide what to do with their Thrift Savings Plan accounts. Here are the choices.

DEPARTMENTS

14 Questions & Answers 58 For the Record: TSP

Investments, COLA Chart

28 senior executive Service. The program faces challenges in recruiting, rewarding performance and remaining relevant.

60 NARFE News 68 The Way We Worked special section

36 Open Season Report:

• Plan Changes • Prescription Drug Benefits • Dental and Vision Plans

On the Web visit us online at:

www.narfe.org like us on facebook:

NARFE National Headquarters follow us on twitter:

@narfehq

ON THE COVER

Illustration by Bill Pragluski, Critical Stages, LLC

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december 2013 | Volume 89 | Number 12

Editor Margaret M. Carter Assistant Editor Ken Fanelli Editorial Administrator Toni Vallario Graphic Design Charlene Gridley Editorial Board Joseph A. Beaudoin, Paul H. Carew, Elaine C. Hughes, Richard G. Thissen Editorial Office: narfe magazine, 606 North Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314-1914; Phone: 703-838-7760; Fax: 703-838-7781; Email: communications@narfe.org Advertising Sales: Warren Berger, Media People Inc., 122 East 42nd St., Suite 725, New York, NY 10168; Phone: 212-779-7172, ext. 223; Email: wberger@mediapeople.com NARFE for the Visually Impaired On the Telephone: This publication can be heard on the telephone by persons who have trouble seeing or reading the print edition. For more information, contact the National Federation of the Blind NFB-NEWSLINE® service at 866-5047300 or go to www.nfbnewsline.org.

On Tape: Issues of narfe magazine are also available on cassette through the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. To find out about availability in your area, call 800-424-8567 and ask for the Reference Section.

The Association, since July 1970, has been classified by the IRS as a tax-exempt labor organization [not a union]; however, dues and gifts or contributions to the Association are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association NATIONAL OFFICERS JOSEPH A. BEAUDOIN, President; natpres@narfe.org PAUL H. CAREW, Vice President; natvp@narfe.org ELAINE C. HUGHES, Secretary; natsec@narfe.org RICHARD G. THISSEN, Treasurer; nattreas@narfe.org

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS

REGION I Arthur Pike (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont) Tel: 207-764-4468 Email: artpike1937@aol.com REGION II Evelyn Kirby (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) Tel: 410-604-1141 Email: ekirby@atlanticbb.net REGION III Donald Stewart (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Virgin Islands) Tel: 305-442-6388 Email: dejs33149@aol.com REGION IV Paul E. Johnson (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) Tel: 812-306-5137 Email: pejohnson@tds.net REGION V Carol R. Ek (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota) Tel: 620-241-1131 Email: ek617@att.net

Here’s How to Contact Us… If you want to:

Join NARFE Call (toll-free): 800-627-3394 or go to: www.narfe.org Change or update your membership record Call (toll-free): 800-456-8410 Email: memberrecords@narfe.org

REGION VI Jerome S. Smith (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Republic of Panama and Texas) Tel: 903-534-5849 Email: retiredjer@aol.com REGION VII Frank Impinna (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) Tel: 303-482-1747 Email: impinna@gmail.com REGION VIII Helen L. Zajac (California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and Republic of Philippines) Tel: 707-644-7565 Email: hlz17@aol.com REGION IX Lanny G. Ross (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington) Tel: 360-692-9741 Email: lannyjean@comcast.net REGION X William F. Martin (Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) Tel: 540-872-3345 Email: billmartin@narferx.org

For any other NARFE matter:

Call NARFE Headquarters: 703-838-7760 Email: hq@narfe.org Fax: 703-838-7785 Write: NARFE 606 N. Washington St. Alexandria, VA 22314

www.narfe.org

narfe (ISSN 1948-4453) is published monthly by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), 606 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, VA, and additional mailing offices. Members: Annual dues includes subscription. Nonmember subscription rate $45. Postmaster: Send address change to: NARFE Attn: Member Records, 606 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314. To ensure prompt delivery, members should also forward changes of address without delay. Because of the volume involved, NARFE cannot acknowledge nor be responsible for unsolicited pictures and manuscripts, although every reasonable precaution is taken. All submissions become the property of NARFE. Copyright © 2013, NARFE. Advertisements in the magazine are not endorsements of products and/or services by NARFE, unless officially stated in the ad. We shall accept advertising on the same basis as other reputable publications: that is, we shall not knowingly permit a dishonest advertisement to appear in narfe, but at the same time we will not undertake to guarantee the reliability of our advertisers.

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From the President

the ‘silent sentinels’

T

he recent government shutdown and debt-limit fiasco dealt a serious blow to our citizens’ confidence in

their elected leaders. It also demonstrated that political posturing by a few lawmakers can cause the government of the world’s greatest democracy to function on life support and create untold hardship for the public servants whose job it is to provide the services that make it run smoothly.

When government operation is at full throttle, those responsible for its day-to-day functioning are often taken for granted. When it is not, they are missed.

The “silent sentinels of our nation’s wellbeing,” as former Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-DE,

aptly characterized federal workers, were pawns in this political stalemate. The shutdown, with its cessation of pay, was but the latest indignity in a series of slights suffered by federal employees in recent years. It left them feeling unappreciated and disrespected, as well as broke and discouraged.

The good news is that NARFE has the back of every federal employee and retiree. The Association’s “Protect America’s Heartbeat” campaign continues unabated to protect feds from being singled out for unfair treatment. Established in the spring of 2011, its mission is to counter the attacks on federal workers’ benefits and reputations. “Protect America’s Heartbeat” helps to put a face on the “anonymous” civil servants who do so much for this country. I encourage you to go online to www.ProtectAmericasHeartbeat.org and share the story of your public service.

We support you and appreciate your service, as I’m sure so many others do in the aftermath of these trying times. As 2013 draws to a close, we recognize that the year could have been much worse for federal employees and retirees without the tireless advocacy of NARFE and our coalition partners. And, as you will read in this issue, the fight continues. Join us.

Joseph A. Beaudoin NARFE national President natpres@narfe.org

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Washington Watch

chained CPI would mean sacrifices, NARFE says

N

ARFE brought its opposition to the Chained CPI to the U.S. Capitol. At a press conference in front of the House of Representatives, NARFE urged Congress

not to use the Chained CPI as a bargaining chip in future negotiations on the federal budget.

Annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to federal retirement annuities, Social Security benefits, military retired pay and disability benefits are determined by the monthly Consumer Price

Index (CPI). Proponents of the Chained CPI argue that it is a more accurate measurement of inflation than the current CPI-W and is merely a “technical adjustment.”

However, NARFE contends that the Chained CPI is an inaccurate measure of seniors’ spending.

The Association estimates that a switch to the Chained CPI would cost the average federal retiree $48,000 in lost benefits over 25 years. In that same time, the average Social Security beneficiary would lose $23,000, and the average retired military member would lose $42,000.

At the October 9 press conference at the Capitol, NARFE At the press conference, shoeboxes stuffed with coupons clipped by NARFE members illustrate how many coupons it would take to recoup cuts made under the Chained CPI.

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NARFE National Secretary Elaine C. Hughes speaks at a Capitol Hill press conference opposing the use of the Chained CPI to determine cost-of-living adjustments.

Photos by Mike Theiler

presented clear shoeboxes full of clipped grocery coupons, demonstrating that a move to the Chained CPI would not be just a technical adjustment. The coupons, clipped by NARFE members in all 50 states, were grouped to show how many coupons federal annuitants, military retirees and Social Security recipients would have to clip to recoup the cuts to their COLAs (see photo at left).

“Please understand the harsh reality of what the Chained CPI would mean for our seniors and the citizens who need our help the most,” NARFE National Secretary Elaine C. Hughes said. “You don’t simply ‘adjust’ to a loss of thousands of dollars. It will require sacrifices.”

NARFE was joined at the press conference by officials of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the Military Officers Association of America and the American Foreign Service Association. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-VT, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, also spoke.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-MD, was scheduled to speak but was

protect america’s heartbeat update While Congress reached an agreement to temporarily reopen the government and raise the debt limit without penalizing the federal community, that does not mean NARFE’s grass-roots work is done. Whether it’s another threat down the road or an upcoming election, grass-roots advocacy – the actions you take – must continue throughout the coming months. Watch for information on upcoming efforts. In the meantime, continue dropping materials (narfe magazines, letters) at your legislators’ local offices. Keep making phone calls or writing letters at your chapter meetings. And do not forget to attend congressional town hall meetings.

delayed by a hearing.

In her statement, Schakowsky said that she wished “we were here today to talk about how to improve benefits. At a time when savings and pensions are declining, we should be thinking about how we can increase benefits and provide a more accurate measure of seniors’ daily expenses.”

—By Sarah Weissmann, grass-roots program manager

SHUTDOWN ENDS, BUT THE BENEFITS BATTLE GOES ON

T

he House-Senate conference committee that was created in legislation ending the 16-day government shutdown in October will be looking at all areas of deficit reduction, and many of the proposals NARFE has been successful in fighting so far will be back on the table.

Ending the shutdown. The House and Senate came to an agreement October 16 to end the shutdown and raise the debt limit.

Signed by President Obama just after midnight on October 17, the law gave federal workers the authority to return to work that day and provided back pay for those who had been furloughed in the shutdown.

Even though they were on the job, many excepted (or “essential”) personnel did not receive full paychecks during the shutdown, as funding was not available. Regardless of their status, all federal employees should have received their pay in full on the first payday after the shutdown ended.

Conference Committee. The law extends fiscal year 2013 funding through January 15, 2014, and requires the House-Senate conference committee to come up with a budget framework by December 13. The committee is composed of: • From the Senate: Democratic Sens. Patty Murray, WA; Ron Wyden, OR; Bill Nelson, FL; Debbie Stabenow, MI; Sheldon Whitehouse, RI; Mark Warner,

VA; Jeff Merkley, OR; Chris Coons, DE; Tammy Baldwin, WI; and Tim Kaine, VA; Independent Sens.

Bernard Sanders, VT, and Angus King, Jr., ME; and Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions, AL; Charles E. Grassley, IA; Michael B. Enzi, WY; Michael D. Crapo, ID; Lindsey Graham, SC; Patrick J. Toomey, PA; Ron Johnson, WI; Kelly Ayotte, NH; and Roger Wicker, MS. • From the House: Democratic Reps. Chris Van Hollen, MD; James E. Clyburn, SC; and Nita M. Lowey, NY; and Republican Reps.

Paul D. Ryan, WI; Tom Cole, OK; Tom Price, GA; and Diane Black, TN. NARFE is concerned that the Chained CPI could be included in any budget deal. NARFE remains strongly opposed to any change in the annual cost-of-living adjustment formula that would negatively impact seniors, veterans and federal retirees. Other proposals under consideration could include: an extension of the federal employee pay freeze, changing the high-three years salary formula for retirement to high-five, reforms to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and an increase in retirement contributions for current employees.

Over the past three years, the federal community has contributed more than $114 billion to deficit reduction. The three-year federal employee pay freeze will save the (Continued on p. 8)

Special Announcement: 2014 COLA will be 1.5%, see p.58

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Washington Watch

employer contribution Continues for hill

M

any of NARFE’s comments were incorporated in

In comments to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on draft regulations, NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin advocated a number of adjustments to the proposed rules in an effort to champion the interests of federal employees and retirees and defend the integrity of the FEHBP. On October 2, OPM published its final rules, which addressed topics raised during the comment period, including the issues discussed by Beaudoin. The final rule clarifies several points: • Retiree Coverage. NARFE pointed out that the ACA does not

contemplate annuitant coverage through exchanges, while the proposed rule did. In the final rule, OPM agreed with NARFE and declared, “Members of Congress and congressional staff will be subject to the same rules of participation in the FEHB Program in retirement as other federal annuitants.”

• Re-employed Annuitants. In its comments, NARFE argued that FEHBP coverage, once vested as an annuity benefit, should remain unaffected upon re-employment. In the final rule, OPM clarified that the ACA does nothing to affect the choices avail-

(Continued from p. 7) government $99 billion over a 10-year budget window, while the increase in retirement contributions for federal employees hired after January 1, 2013, saves another $15 billion. Furloughs resulting from sequestration have allowed the government to save even more.

Debt Ceiling. The law raised the debt ceiling until February 7, 2014. After that time, the Treasury Department can use “extraordinary measures” to meet financial obligations, as has been done in the past.

Pay Raise. In addition to

the back-pay provision, the law also allows federal employees to receive a 1 percent pay raise the first full pay period in January.

While NARFE will continue to fight for this much-deserved raise, be aware that a lot can happen between now and then.

NARFE urges members to remain vigilant. Please take our message to your members of Congress: Enough is enough! The federal community will not stand for further cuts. Visit the Legislative Action Center at www.narfe. org to take action.

able to a re-employed annuitant and that, upon re-employment, an annuitant participating in the FEHBP may continue that coverage rather than transfer enrollment to the new employing office.

• Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchange Plans. NARFE commented that SHOP plans in exchanges would likely be bettersuited for the provision of health insurance to employees than individual exchange plans. The final regulation directs members of Congress and designated congressional staff to enroll in an appropriate SHOP plan to receive a government contribution.

• Employer Contribution.

NARFE expressed support for the proposed rule’s inclusion of a government contribution toward the health insurance premiums purchased by members of Congress and staff through the exchanges.

As was initially proposed, the final rule made clear that the government contribution toward health insurance premiums will apply equally to members of Congress and staff who purchase their health insurance through the ACA-created exchanges and that the contribution will be calculated in the same manner as for all other federal employees.

Even as the government shut down in a dispute over the ACA, some politicians called the government contribution “a subsidy.”

In the end, however, the government contribution for all federal employees was preserved as they returned to work.

—By Jessica Klement, Legislative Director

—By Alan Lopatin, Legislative Counsel

final regulations that clarify changes in the health insurance status of members of Congress and

congressional staff. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), members of Congress and their staff must get their insurance from the ACA-mandated exchanges, not the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), beginning in 2014.

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NARFE Weighs in on postal reform bill

I

n testimony submitted to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin said the Association strongly opposes S. 1486, the Postal Reform Act of 2013, because of its “radical changes to long-

MYTH vs.

REALITY Myth: Government shutdowns help save the United States government money.

Reality: Government shutdowns actually cost the United States billions of dollars. Putting contingency plans in place, forfeiting user fees and other charges, paying higher future contractor premiums, getting the government running again, and issuing back pay for federal employees not working during the shutdown result in a financial loss.

Even without back pay for federal employees, the government would still lose money.

The Office of Management and Budget estimated that the three-week government shutdown in 1995-1996 cost taxpayers $1.4 billion (which amounts to more than $2.0 billion in 2013 dollars).

standing employee and retiree benefits programs for hundreds of thousands of current, future and former postal workers, as well as millions of other federal workers and retirees.”

The bill would move Medicareenrolled postal retirees into Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) plans separate from the rest of the program. It also would allow for the creation of a separate postal health benefits plan for current employees and, potentially, future retirees.

“The bill threatens to undermine the affordability and quality of health care for federal and postal employees and retirees,” Beaudoin said. It would increase FEHBP premiums for federal employees and retirees, and it would threaten to prevent future retirees from receiving retiree health benefits through the FEHBP, he added.

Beaudoin’s concerns were echoed by John Foley, director of planning and policy analysis for the Office of Personnel Management, at a September 26 hearing before the committee. Foley said that the health benefits provisions of S. 1486 would raise premiums across the board for federal employees and retirees. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, expressed concern that S. 1486 would result in shifting costs to Medicare.

Also testifying at the hearing, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe continued to push a proposal to allow the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to administer its own health benefits program for postal employees and retirees. The USPS plan goes farther than S. 1486.

In its submitted testimony, NARFE also reiterated opposition to the steep cuts to federal workers’ compensation benefits contained in S. 1486. At the hearing, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, questioned whether it was appropriate to overhaul the workers’ compensation system for all federal employees in a postal reform bill.

It is likely that changes will be made to the bill before the committee reports it to the full Senate.

The question is whether those changes will result in a bill that no longer seeks to reform USPS by dismantling valued federal and postal employee and retiree benefits. NARFE continues to work with senators to oppose harmful provisions.

—By John Hatton, Deputy Legislative Director

Legislative Resources • Legislative Hotline: A weekly update of legislative news, compiled by the NARFE Legislative Department staff, distributed via email and available by phone (toll-free) at 877-217-8234 and online at www.narfe.org.

• Legislative Action Center: A one-stop site to send a letter to Congress, and more, at www.narfe.org.

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Washington Watch

narfe bill tracker The NARFE bill TRACKER is your monthly guide to the congressional legislation that NARFE is following. Check back each issue for updates.

ISSUE

Bill Number / Name / Sponsor

What Bill Would Do

Latest Action(s)

Provides for the indexation of deferred annuities, including survivor annuities, and for individuals becoming subject to the Federal Employees Retirement System by election.

Terminates the entitlement of a survivor who remarries before age 55 (currently, who remarries at any age) to an annuity based on the service of a deferred annuitant who dies before establishing a valid claim for a Civil Service Retirement System annuity.

Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Makes any person who has a “seriously delinquent tax debt” (an outstanding tax debt for which a notice of lien has been filed in public records) ineligible for federal employment or to continue serving as a federal employee.

Approved by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on 3/20/13 Failed to pass the House on 4/15/13

Allows federal employees to substitute any available paid leave for any leave without pay available for either the birth of a child or placement of a child with the employee for either adoption or foster care. Makes available four administrative weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth or placement involved.

Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

H. Con. Res. 25: Fiscal year 2014 Budget Resolution / Rep. Paul D. Ryan, R-WI

Among other things, reduces the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition and increases the amount that federal employees contribute toward their retirement.

Passed the House on 3/21/13

H.R. 933: Fiscal Year 2013 Continuing Appropriations Act / Rep. Harold Rogers, R-KY

Funds the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2013 (through September 30, 2013) at sequestration levels. Freezes federal pay for a third year (2013).

Signed into law on 3/26/13 (P.L. 113-6)

H.R. 26: Deferred Benefits Adjustment Act of 2013 / Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-NY Cosponsors: None DEFERRED ANNUITIES

Tax Delinquency

Paid Parental Leave

H.R. 249: Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2013 / Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT Cosponsors: None

H.R. 517: To provide that four of the 12 weeks of parental leave made available to a federal employee shall be paid leave / Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-NY Cosponsors: 17 (D)

Retirement Calculations/ Contributions

federal pay

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narfe, April, p. 9

narfe, July, p. 11

narfe, May, p. 7

narfe, May, p. 6

ISSUE

Bill Number / Name / Sponsor H.R. 1367: FEHBP Prescription Drug Integrity, Transparency, and Cost Savings Act / Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, D-MA Cosponsors: 3 (D)

Health Care H.R. 1780: To provide that the only health plans that the federal government may make available to the president, vice president, members of Congress and federal employees are those created under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or offered through a health insurance exchange / Rep. Dave Camp, R-MI

What Bill Would Do

Latest Action(s)

Provides the Office of Personnel Management greater oversight authority over the prescription drug contracting and pricing methods of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). It requires that pharmacy benefit managers, who currently contract with individual insurance plans to provide FEHBP prescription drug benefits, return 99 percent of all rebates, market share incentives and other monies received from pharmaceutical manufacturers for FEHBP business and caps prescription drug prices paid by the FEHBP.

Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Removes federal employees from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and places them in the health exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act.

Referred to the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Energy and Commerce, and Administration

narfe, June, p. 9

narfe, July, p. 15

Cosponsors: 30 (R) H.R. 1795: Social Security Fairness Act of 2013 / Rep. Rodney Davis, R-IL GPO/WEP

Cosponsors: 67 (D), 25 (R)

Repeals both the Government Referred to the Pension Offset (GPO) and the House Committee on Windfall Elimination Provision Ways and Means (WEP).

S. 896: Social Security Fairness Act of 2013 / Sen. Mark Begich, D-AK

Referred to the Senate Finance Committee

Cosponsors: 10 (D), 3 (R), 1 (I)

narfe, July, p. 16

H.R. 630: The Postal Service Protection Act / Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR Cosponsors: 160 (D), 7 (R) postal reform S. 316: The Postal Service Protection Act / Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT Cosponsors: 30 (D)

Eliminates the future retiree health benefit prefunding requirement, protects six-day mail delivery and prevents the closure of rural post offices.

Referred to House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary Referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

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Washington Watch

narfe bill tracker (Continued from p. 11) ISSUE

Bill Number / Name / Sponsor H.R. 2748: Postal Reform Act / Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA Cosponsors: 2 (R)

What Bill Would Do

Latest action(s)

Moves the U.S. Postal Service to five-day mail delivery, removes protections for injured workers and eliminates tothe-door delivery in favor of cluster boxes.

Approved by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on 7/24/13

S. 1486: Postal Reform Act Threatens integrity of the Federal Employees Health postal reform / Sen. Tom Carper, D-DE Benefits Program by reCosponsors: 1 (R) moving postal workers and retirees, cuts workers’ compensation benefits, eliminates Federal Employees Retirement System pension for new hires.

2013-14_PAC_Coupon:2013 Coupon

3/26/13

3:42 PM

narfe, September, p. 20 Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs See story, p. 9

Page 1

NARFE-PAC CONTRIBUTION FORM Name:______________________________________ NARFE Member Number: _______________________ I would like to make a one-time contribution of: $100 Gold (qualifies for Gold 2013-14 NARFE-PAC lapel pin and a blue NARFE-PAC LEADER hat)

$50 Silver (qualifies for Silver 2013-2014 NARFE-PAC lapel pin) $20 Basic (qualifies for Basic 2013-2014 NARFE-PAC lapel pin) Other: ______ -orI would like to be a Sustainer and make a monthly credit card contribution to NARFE-PAC of: $25/month $10/month

Please find my check or money order enclosed payable to NARFE-PAC Please charge to my credit card (required for monthly contribution) Credit Card Information Type: MasterCard Visa Discover AMEX Card #: ________________________________ Expiration Date: ____ / ____ Name on Card:__________________________ Signature: ______________________________ Date: __________________________________

Other: ______/month (minimum of $10) Monthly contributions qualify you to receive a NARFE-PAC Sustainer lapel pin along with a blue NARFE-PAC LEADER hat.

I do not want to receive any gifts for my contribution marked above.

Mail to: National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association Attn: NARFE-PAC 606 North Washington St. | Alexandria, VA 22314

Only members of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association may contribute to NARFE-PAC. NARFE will neither favor nor disadvantage anyone based on the amount of a contribution or the failure to make a voluntary contribution to this political action fund. NARFE-PAC contributions are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

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Questions & Answers

The following Questions & Answers were compiled by NARFE’s Federal Benefits Service Department staff.

NARFE does not provide legal, financial planning or tax advice or assistance.

employees Making a Military deposit

Q

I am a Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employee and was first hired to work for the government in 1998.

I had four years of military service prior to my civilian service. Can you give me some information on military deposits?

A

You must pay a military deposit in order to receive credit for your military service at retirement.

You had three years from your first appointment date in 1998 to repay the deposit in full without interest. After the three years, you are charged interest. A FERS military deposit is 3 percent of the basic pay you received during the period you were on active duty.

It does not include allowances, flight pay, combat pay, etc. (The Civil Service Retirement System or CSRS Offset military deposit is 7 percent.) As you know, 3 percent of your military base pay will not cost you very much. However, 14

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when the interest starts to accrue, the amount you owe increases substantially. You may want to contact your Human Resources Office to get the proper forms to apply to make your military deposit. You may want to consider putting in an application for the military deposit now and have a certain amount of money withheld from your salary each pay period for the deposit.

You are not required to make the payment now. However, the payment must be made to your payroll office in full before you retire to receive credit for those years of service, and you will continue to be charged interest until the

military deposit is paid in full.

TSP Withdrawals

Q

I am considering taking a partial withdrawal of my Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) when I retire and transferring it to an individual retirement account (IRA). How can I withdraw the remaining portion of my account?

A

If you use the partial withdrawal option to transfer a portion of your balance to an IRA (you submit the request on Form TSP-77), you may make one more election to withdraw the remaining balance. Using Form TSP-70, you can request another lumpsum withdrawal, a series of monthly payments, a life annuity or any combination of those three options. If you choose to receive all or part of your balance as a series of monthly payments,

you’ll be able to make certain changes over the course of your retirement. The lump-sum and annuity options are less flexible.

The annuity contract cannot be terminated, and the lump sum cannot be returned. TSP has a 22-page publication on withdrawals and a tax information sheet on its website, www.tsp.gov.

Sick-Leave Balance

Q

Please clarify whether unused sick leave is counted for retirement, or will I be paid a lump sum for my sick leave?

A

Your agency will pay you a lump sum for your annual leave. You will not be paid for your sick leave. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will use your sick-leave balance to extend your length of service. Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employees can count half of their sick-leave balance toward their service total until 2014. In 2014, Civil Service Retirement System and FERS employees will be able to use their entire sick-leave balance toward their length of service.

For example: An employee has 31 years, eight months and 26 days of military and/or civilian time at retirement, and six months and 23 days of sick leave. When the two are added, the employee has 32 years, three months and 19 days of service. OPM will use 32 years and three months of service to compute this employee’s annuity.

Cancel FEHBP?

Q

Can individuals enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) cancel their enrollment to go under the new state exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and then re-enroll in the FEHBP at a later date?

A

It depends on whether you are an active or retired federal employee. Federal employees can cancel their enrollments at any time for any reason and re-enroll in the FEHBP at the next annual Open Season. Federal retirees cannot cancel their enrollment in the FEHBP and later re-enroll for any reason, unless they are re-employed in the federal government.

Retirees can suspend their FEHBP enrollment if they are covered by one of these other federal health programs: TRICARE or TRICARE For Life, Medicaid, CHAMPVA, a Medicare Advantage Plan or if they are serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. They can then re-enroll in the FEHBP at a later date if they wish.

There is no option that allows retirees to suspend their FEHBP for coverage under one of the state exchange plans created under the ACA.

FEHBP choices for 2014

Q

How do I find the choices for insurance under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) for 2014?

A

The Office of Personnel Management has posted the FEHBP plans available for 2014 and the premium costs for each on its website, www. opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/ healthcare/plan-information.

Your agency also will have material available for you to review and may even have an Open Season fair, where representatives from FEHBP-participating plans will be present to help you with any questions you might have. The third part of NARFE’s annual “Open Season Report” appears in this issue (p. 36) and covers major changes in the open-to-all, fee-forservice plans.

retirees what is ‘Sequestration deduction?’

Q

I saw something on my latest Medicare payment statement that I didn’t understand. The statement listed a deduction in the amount Medicare paid called a “sequestration deduction.”

I have a Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) plan as my secondary payer, so I am wondering if this sequestration deduction will affect me and, if so, how?

A

On March 8, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Budget Control Act of 2011, which required mandatory across-the-board federal spending cuts (also known w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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Questions & Answers

as sequestration), caused it to reduce payments by 2 percent for Medicare fee-for-service claims with service dates on or after April 1, 2013. CMS further stated that the 2 percent reduction in claims payments shall be applied to all claims after determining coinsurance, any applicable deductible and any applicable Medicare secondary payment adjustments.

If you have an FEHBP plan that provides secondary coverage, the plan usually pays what Medicare does not – if the benefit is covered. So you should not see any additional out-of-pocket expenses as a result of the reduction in the Medicare payment.

post-retirement marriage

Q

I was single when I retired under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). If I marry now, can I provide my spouse with both survivor benefits and health insurance?

A

You may pick up Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) insurance for your spouse within 60 days of your marriage by writing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), requesting family FEHBP coverage and sending OPM your marriage certificate.

If you don’t place your new spouse

on your plan within 60 days of your marriage, you will have to wait until an Open Season to place your spouse on your plan.

You have two years from the date of the marriage to elect survivor benefits for your spouse.

Remember that you must elect a survivor benefit in order for your spouse to continue FEHBP coverage if you predecease him. As a FERS employee, you may elect a 50 percent or a 25 percent annuity for your spouse, which means that he will receive 50 percent or 25 percent of your annuity if you predecease him.

But here is the bad news: You are required to pay for the survivor benefit retroactively to your

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retirement date. The 50 percent option will cost you 10 percent of your annuity; the 25 percent option will cost you 5 percent of your annuity. Plus, you are required to pay a 6 percent penalty each year for your retroactive payments.

OPM does not allow you to make a lump-sum retroactive payment. Instead, it determines the amount that you owe and will reduce your annuity each month by an actuarial reduction.

This means OPM will use a life expectancy table and reduce your annuity a certain amount until your death for the retroactive payment. Then OPM will compute the monthly amount of your survivor benefit and start reducing your

18

ROXC3093NARFEbackyardHalfpg.indd1 1 DEC 2 013

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NARFE at Your Service NARFE service officers are available to answer questions and to assist in helping with a variety of benefit matters. Check your chapter newsletter for the name and phone number of your service officer.

annuity each month to pay for the benefit.

To recap: You will have two reductions in your annuity. The first reduction is for your retroactive payment, and the second reduction is the normal amount that you would have to pay for a survivor election.

For the nearest service officer, call NARFE toll-free at:

800-456-8410.

NARFE Service Centers are also available in some areas.

Use the Service Center listings on the NARFE website,

www. narfe.org.

Earning Limit?

Q

I retired at the age of 52 as a law enforcement officer under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). I currently receive the basic FERS annuity and the FERS Annuity Supplement. Do I have an earnings limitation at this time that affects my FERS Supplement?

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Page 1

Questions & Answers

A

You are not subject to the Social Security earnings limitation test until you reach your minimum retirement age (MRA). Therefore, you may earn wages without being impacted by the Social Security earnings limitation test until you reach your MRA. If you are still earning wages when you reach your MRA, you will be subject to the earnings limitation test.

Self-only instead of family plan?

Q

My wife is covered by my Blue Cross Blue Shield (BC/ BS) Standard family plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). She also has CHAMPVA. In three years, she will be eligible for Medicare. CHAMPVA will act as her secondary insurance, as it does for the BC/BS plan today. Do you see a need to keep an FEHBP family plan after she is eligible for Medicare? I would hate to die and leave her without the ability to get back on the FEHBP. However, the family plan for just the two of us is expensive and blows a hole in my annuity.

A

You are not going to be able to keep a self-only plan and protect the FEHBP health insurance benefits for your spouse.

Only the person who is entitled to a retirement and is the enrollee can enroll, cancel, suspend or re-enroll in the FEHBP. Here are your options: • When your spouse turns 65, you may suspend your family FEHBP coverage by completing Health Benefits Cancellation/Suspension Confirmation, RI 79-9. This means that you will be suspending your family health insurance plan, but you will be able to re-enroll in the FEHBP

during an Open Season if you wish.

Please note that if you suspend your FEHBP before your wife turns 65, both you and your spouse lose the FEHBP coverage.

• As a retiree, you may change to a self-only FEHBP anytime that you wish. If you wait until your wife reaches age 65 to change to a self-only FEHBP, then your spouse will have Medicare and CHAMPVA. However, if you predecease your spouse before placing her on your family plan during an Open Season, she will lose her FEHBP coverage.

• You may continue your family coverage after your spouse reaches age 65. However, you will still be paying full premiums.

Re-employment’s effect on TSP

Q

I am considering applying for a part-time job with the federal government. If I go back to work, what happens with my Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)?

A

If you go back to work for the federal government, and if you are eligible to participate in the TSP again, the impact on your TSP account would depend on the choice you made when you retired. If you purchased a life annuity, the annuity payments would continue. If you are receiving monthly payments from your TSP account, the payments would stop when you begin receiving contributions.

To obtain an answer to a federal benefits question, NARFE members should call 703-8387760 and ask for the Federal Benefits Service Department; send your question by postal mail to NARFE Headquarters, ATTN: Federal Benefits; or submit it by email to fedbenefits@ narfe.org.

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Cover Story

By Steve Bates

Retiring Employees Seek The Withdrawal Option That Fits Their Needs Financial advisers are getting used to the calls from federal employees approaching retirement. The workers have estimated their basic retirement annuity and Social Security checks if they are in the Federal Employees Retirement System. But they are not sure what to do with

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You h t i e It W k a T an You C their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) accounts, and many ask for advice at the last minute.

“Everyone says: ‘I wish we had done this sooner’,” says Micah Shilanski, a certified financial planner with Shilanski & Associates in Anchorage, AK. “They don’t want to outlive their money. And they don’t want to lose their money.”

Fortunately, it turns out that there really are few bad decisions about what to do with your TSP account. “It all boils down to: What are the goals and financial circumstances of the individual?” says Mark Keen, a narfe magazine columnist and a certified financial planner in Fairfax, VA. Some retirees focus on buying or paying off their dream house. Others plan to travel extensively.

Many want to provide a financial legacy for their loved ones. There are TSP options that can help retirees reach these goals.

The thrift plan is the “third leg” of the retirement package under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), after the basic retirement annuity and Social Security. Because the basic annuity and Social Security are outside the control

It all boils down to the goals and financial circumstances of the individual. of the employee, it is through the TSP that he or she can make big improvements to retirement savings.

For FERS employees, the government contributes 1 percent of basic pay, matches employee contributions dollar-for-dollar up to 3 percent of pay and matches 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2 percent. Employees who were hired before 1987 are under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS); they receive no employer contribution and no match if they contribute to the TSP. Many employees keep their TSP accounts on autopilot, other than to tweak the investment mix to be more conservative as they approach retirement. “There’s a great uncertainty that exists with everybody I meet. They don’t know how the three 24

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retirement sources are going to work,” says Michael Mattison, a chartered federal employee benefits consultant at LPL Financial in Gaithersburg, MD. He urges workers to start thinking several years before retirement about what they will do with their TSP funds.

A VARIETY OF CHOICES

There are several primary choices for using TSP funds in retirement, though there are many variations on them. They are: • Leaving the money in the TSP until age 70½, when required minimum distributions must begin; • Taking a partial, one-time withdrawal; • Taking a full withdrawal as a single, lumpsum payment, often rolled over into an individual retirement account (IRA); • Taking a full withdrawal with a series of monthly payments (either at an amount the participant chooses, or as calculated by the TSP using life-expectancy tables); • Taking a full withdrawal as an annuity; • Taking a full withdrawal as a combination of options.

To determine which is best for you, consider your goals and “discuss your risk tolerance with a professional,” says Bob Hill, a district adviser at First Command Financial Services in Arlington, VA. “How does this account fit with your other investment accounts?” He urges employees and retirees to keep in mind that “as your life changes, you make new choices” that impact retirement needs. “You need to have your eyes open.”

Based on TSP payment statistics, a single full payment and monthly payments are the two leading withdrawal choices – and are virtually tied for the top spot. “The monthly payment participants are likely interested in replicating a regular stream of income while retaining the bulk of their accounts in the TSP, while the single-payment participants are satisfying a different set of needs,” says Kim Weaver, director of external affairs for the the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), which manages the TSP. Partial withdrawals are the third most popular option, followed well behind by annuities.

“Ultimately, only you are going to know what your decision should be,” says Weaver. She notes that the TSP does not provide retirement planning advice but tries to educate participants. It conducts

training for agency representatives who discuss retirement options with employees; speaks to employees at conferences; and provides substantial support through its website and call centers.

Among the popular features on the TSP website are calculators that help estimate TSP account payouts under various scenarios.

In a narfe magazine survey, members expressed support for each of the available options for using TSP funds. A few of the more than 2,000 respondents conveyed concern about the viability of TSP accounts if the government were to default on its debts and/or the stock market were to decline sharply. Under law, however, the G Fund, one of several TSP investment funds and the one that is protected by the government, will be restored to its full value, even if it is impacted temporarily by unusual events.

Ignoring your TSP account upon retirement is not an option. Says Shilanski: “Your money is a tool, and it needs to do a job.”

KEEP TAXES IN MIND

While financial advisers say many factors should drive decisions about TSP accounts, “Taxes will be a big part of it,” says Shilanski. (See sidebar, p. 27.) This is one area where the wrong decision can be painful, if not catastrophic. Withdrawing the full amount of one’s TSP account will subject it to federal and possibly state taxes unless the money is rolled over into an IRA account, it comes from the Roth TSP account or certain other factors apply. Other penalties apply in some situations for withdrawing funds too soon – before age 59½ – or too late – after age 70½.

Financial planners point out that for retirees, rolling over a TSP account to an IRA has advantages in terms of asset allocation and diversification. Says financial planner Keen: “The TSP is limited to large U.S. stocks (C Fund), small U.S. stocks (S Fund), large international stocks from developed countries (I Fund), and bonds and bond equivalents (F and G Funds). There are many more asset classes to invest in – value stocks, midsize companies, real estate stocks, emerging market stocks, etc. All of these investments are available in an IRA.” In addition, he notes, with the exception of the G Fund, the TSP funds can be replicated within an IRA.

NEED HElp? Federal workers approaching retirement can contact their Human Resources Office and can seek advice from private investment firms, some of which offer free seminars.

In addition, pre- and post-retirement federal employees can obtain information from the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Its website features a comprehensive downloadable brochure titled “Summary of the Thrift Savings Plan.” The TSP can be contacted by several means.

Website: www.tsp.gov Telephone toll-free (ThriftLine): Call TSP-YOU-FRST (877-968-3778) between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern time.

TDD toll-free (for hearing-impaired participants): Call TSP-THRIFT5 (877-847-4385) International callers who cannot use the toll-free numbers, call (404) 233-4400 (not tollfree).

Fax number: 866-817-5023 Mailing address: Thrift Savings Plan P.O. Box 385021 Birmingham, AL 35238

One of the quirks when making certain withdrawals from the TSP – such as through a one-time payment or monthly checks calculated by the TSP or the retiree – is that the money comes proportionately from each fund in which the retiree has invested money. That can even lead to penalties, including, for example, when the retiree has had part of his or her money in a Roth TSP account for less than five years.

Weaver notes “reasons of simplicity and minimizing costs” behind the structure of such TSP withdrawals.

However, monthly payments have strong defenders among retirees, even though the payments can be adjusted only once a year, in January. w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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You h t i e It W k a T an You C Leaving one’s money in the TSP after retirement also has its proponents. The biggest red flag comes when the account holder reaches age 70½. At that point, the retiree must begin to take payments – known in the tax code as Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) – or face huge penalties. “RMDs are something that people forget about a lot,” says Shilanski.

CONFUSION ABOUT ANNUITIES

The decision whether or not to place TSP funds in an annuity is one of the most difficult. There are advantages and disadvantages, as with all the options.

And annuities take many forms.

In general, the purchaser of an annuity gives up all rights to manage his or her money in exchange for a lifetime of guaranteed payments. With some annuities, once the retiree dies, the money is gone.

However, some annuities – including options offered by the TSP and many outside companies – offer a spousal or other survivor benefit in exchange for lower monthly payments.

With an annuity, “if the market goes down, you’re not going to lose any money,” says Shilanski.

However, he adds, “the more guarantees, the less money. Find something that really works for you.”

Many retirees who responded to the NARFE survey said the TSP should offer more choices.

“I would like to see more flexibility for withdrawals of TSP funds in retirement,” says Judith Pasek, a retiree from Fort Collins, CO. “The existing withdrawal options largely assume that a person wants a steady stream of income throughout retirement or an expected lifetime. However, financial needs do not remain constant throughout a lifetime or post-retirement.”

TSP’s Weaver says the Thrift Board has begun gathering data “about what our participants want” and will benchmark itself against others in the financial industry “to determine what changes we should make to the TSP.” Bruce Julian, a retiree who lives in the Northern Neck of Virginia, believed that he could do better outside of the TSP than staying in it. He withdrew all the money from his account and rolled it over into an IRA. In addition to estimating the value of keeping his money in the TSP and the value of an IRA rollover, “I did my comparative analysis with two or three private annuities,” he says. But he 26

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wasn’t satisfied with the expected returns and with the potential downsides of annuities.

He says he has no problem with the administrative fees he pays on his investments in his IRA, which typically are higher than those assessed on TSP accounts. “I’m interested in performance.”

Edward Vela, Jr., a retiree from Granbury, TX, has different advice for federal employees approaching retirement: “Leave the money in the TSP account. The fund managers will do a better job of managing your money than you ever could.”

Vela, who is in his 70s, takes out the minimum distribution required by the tax code to avoid penalties. “I’m going to keep doing this. The return on investment is good,” he says, adding that he likes the fact that the administrative fees charged for TSP accounts are “very modest.”

John L. Warr, a retiree living in Fort White, FL, opted for a full withdrawal with a monthly payment at a rate that the TSP calculates. He based that decision on a seminar he attended prior to his retirement.

The TSP computes his monthly check using life expectancy tables, and every January the agency recalculates it. He says his payments have grown but his account balance has largely remained steady.

“I especially like that I am able to manage my TSP account investments, just as I did before retirement,” says Warr. “I’m extremely happy with this.”

Retiree Ronald Corte of Draper, UT, had considered purchasing an annuity, but he was concerned about the account balance being forfeited upon his death. Instead, he opted for full TSP withdrawal at a monthly rate that he calculated.

However, after several years of these payments, “I could see my balance shrinking.” He decided to switch gears and withdraw the remainder of his TSP account as a lump sum. The TSP “was more than happy to change it,” he recalls.

Corte used the funds to refinance his home mortgage and pay off his debt, leaving him with “more money in my pocket than I had even when working.”

MAKE REALISTIC PROJECTIONS

Paul Anderson, a retiree from Aiken, SC, contributed to his TSP account as a CSRS employee. Like many federal workers approaching retirement age,

he was invested heavily in the G Fund. He expected that the fund would average returns of at least 4 percent after he retired, which turned out to be far too optimistic. In addition, he says, he underestimated his expenses in retirement.

He says he returned to work as a consultant to avoid major lifestyle changes. He urges workers nearing retirement to “overestimate your planned living expenses by 20 percent and underestimate your planned investment returns by 20 percent.”

For Lorton, VA, resident Sidney Sachs, an annuity seemed to be the best option, given his family’s long lifespans. However, he chose an annuity that would provide a benefit for his wife if he died first.

Not long after he locked in the annuity, the stock market experienced a major downturn, and his decision to go with an annuity seemed even better, he recalls. “My timing was perfect.”

The TSP program is not static. In 2012, the TSP introduced Roth accounts, for which taxes are paid when money is contributed.

And in September, the Thrift Board announced

The TSP AND TAXES

Tax bills are not the only issue to consider when determining how to use Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) funds in retirement, but they can be one of the most significant. TSP rules, the Internal Revenue Service Code and various other applicable federal and state provisions should be part of every retiree’s calculations.

Just ask Patrick Garel. A recent federal retiree, Garel took a one-time partial TSP withdrawal in 2012 as part of his strategy to sell his existing house and pay off a new, less expensive house.

He knew that the TSP would withhold 20 percent of his withdrawal for federal income taxes. But he didn’t realize that this withholding would fall so short, and he didn’t account for the state tax bite from the withdrawal.

“It has been a disaster,” says Garel, who lives in Bernalillo, NM. He says he was forced to come up with about $25,000 more than what he expected to pay in 2012 taxes, in part because his withdrawal bumped him into a higher tax bracket.

There are so many little-known tax provisions and penalties, it doesn’t take much of a slip-up

that the TSP will recognize same-sex marriages performed in a state where they are legal, even if the couple lives in a different state.

And it’s always possible that the federal government will cut back on retiree benefits or alter tax laws impacting them.

Financial planner Hill says that, for decades, many federal employees have believed that “I work for the government and therefore all is well.”

However, he says, “the ship is turning.” Pay freezes, furloughs and threats of even more significant hits to federal workers and retirees should prompt TSP participants to think ahead and manage their finances more deliberately than ever. “I strongly recommend that all federal employees have a plan in place,” says Hill. “It will change; but they will have confidence that their retirement funding will be okay.”

—Steve Bates is a freelance journalist in the Washington, DC, area. He is a former writer and editor for numerous print and online publications, including The Washington Post.

to get into hot water. Even savvy retirees such as Garel, who at one time was a tax preparer, can overlook something critical.

Some tax issues to keep in mind when devising a TSP strategy for retirement: • TSP funds withdrawn and rolled over into an IRA will not be taxed until the funds are withdrawn from the IRA. • Most TSP funds withdrawn before age 59½ are subject to a 10 percent penalty.

• After an employee or retiree reaches age 70½, he or she must withdraw certain Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) or face big penalties.

• Qualified distributions from a TSP Roth account will not be subject to federal taxation.

• TSP federal tax withholding rates vary based on the type of withdrawal.

The TSP website, www.tsp.gov, provides information on tax issues. Look in particular for the downloadable brochure “Important Tax Information About Payments From Your TSP Account.” w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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Special Section

By David Tobenkin

Senior Executive Service The program faces challenges in recruiting, rewarding performance and remaining relevant.

S

erving in the Senior Executive Service (SES), the preeminent federal government executive corps, can be the high point of a federal worker’s

career. But it’s a pinnacle that fewer civil servants seek to ascend, one that

many SES members are choosing to leave and one that many agree is in need of reform in a number of respects. If lower-grade civil servants think life is all gravy at the top, many SES members say, “Think again.”

One SES member heading for the door is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) manager who says he plans to depart the USDA for opportunities in the private sector by the end of 2013 at the not-so-ripe old age of 60.

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Senior Executive Service “I feel good, and after nearly 40 years of public service, I still like doing what I do, but I don’t like the environment in which I have to do it,” he says, noting that he manages a staff of about 300 federal employees. “My decision to leave was really a cumulative one for me.

The thing that struck me was that we don’t get a budget until well past the middle of the year, such as April. By the time the money gets to us and we can start doing something, it’s June. It’s so hard on staff to get a year’s worth of work done in four months. You can’t get enough contracts out. It is horribly inefficient and ineffective; and then I watch how hard it is on them. Then you watch the news, and the same people who failed to get their work done on the Hill are bashing public servants to the point where I feel bad. I don’t want to be part of it anymore. “ Another impetus for his leaving the USDA for a management job in the private sector is the “insufficient” pay he receives for the 60 to 70 hours he says he puts in each week. “All the GS-15s who have worked for me have made more money than I do. Pay freezes and bonus limitations have increased the problem.”

A 2011 SES survey by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released in 2012 indicated “the likelihood of high turnover among the senior ranks in the near future. Thirty-six percent of career respondents plan to leave in the next three years, and 56 percent plan to leave in the next five years.”

Many say that given such challenges, getting eligible civil servants, mainly GS-14s and GS15s, to join the SES is a tall order.

“In the years before I retired [in 2011], I was having real trouble getting qualified people to come in from the field to take those positions when we announced SES jobs, especially in Washington,” says Shelby Hallmark, a former SES member at the Department of Labor, where he supervised as many as 1,800 employees.

“Being SES involves more time demands, a problematic work-life balance and less convenience than lower-graded positions,” says Hallmark, who is a recipient of two of the nation’s highest awards for federal executives, the President’s Meritorious Executive Rank Award in 2000 and the President’s Distin30

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guished Executive Rank Award in 2004. In addition, Hallmark had previously served as chair of the board of directors of the Senior Executives Association (SEA), an SES advocacy group. Recognition and honors aside, “the remuneration was not great enough for some to make the jump.” That problematic trend is stronger now, with compensation having been frozen for three years and day-to-day responsibilities increasing.

The Obama administration is making an effort to recruit more SES members from the private sector.

A Corps of Federal Government Leaders

The SES was established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to provide a governmentwide, mobile corps of high-level managers within federal agencies who would spur productivity and efficiency within government.

Its more than 7,000 members include most of the government’s managerial and policy positions above the GS-15 level; they largely serve as the link between politically appointed heads of agencies and career civil servants.

It is primarily nonpolitical, with a 10 percent governmentwide limit on the number of SES positions that can be filled by political appointees and, within agencies, a 25 percent limit on the number of political appointees among the SES ranks in the agency.

Replacing the prior GS-16, GS-17 and GS-18 “super-grade” rungs on the General Schedule (GS) pay ladder, the SES was created to reduce the focus on technical skills and instead recruit and further develop individuals with leadership skills who could be rotated through, and serve effectively in, different agencies.

But many question whether the existing SES system has realized those goals. A report on the SES, “Unrealized Vision: Reimagining the Senior Executive Service,” by the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton published in August 2009, for example, concluded that it had not: “Our primary finding is that the Senior Executive Service as envisioned by reformers has fallen short of its promise. The original vision of the SES was never realized. More importantly,

we find that the original vision itself is inadequate for today’s needs and does not provide the blueprint to build the kind of senior government leadership required for the future.... Building a consistently high-caliber, governmentwide executive organization is impeded by decentralized talent development and recruitment processes, passive recruiting, an exceedingly cumbersome and lengthy hiring system, inadequate leadership training programs and a pay structure that can allow subordinates to earn more than top-level executives.”

No one doubts there are government leaders who fit the bill of what was intended for the SES. Among them are federal government executives such as General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Dan Tangherlini, who has served with distinction in a wide variety of federal leadership roles, including at the U.S. Department of Treasury; as city administrator of Washington, DC; and at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Other worthy recipients are catalogued in the Presidential Rank Awards, a program that annually honors the top tier of government executives. The SEA estimates that 2012 awardees saved the government more than $94 billion.

But there are also many SES members who remain cloistered at one agency in a limited technical role, without rotations, sometimes supervising a relatively small number of employees. For this reason, some observers contend that there is not a need for as many mobile managers as envisioned in the 1978 Act. They argue that although some of the current SES members are technical experts and fulfill a need for specialization at their agencies, they, in fact, lack the necessary leadership skills and have been miscategorized as SES-caliber leaders.

The “Unrealized Vision” report said that rotation of executives may not be practical and that the government should distinguish between SES positions and other positions that would be assigned as scientific and technical (ST) positions or senior level (SL) positions.

Mobility would continue to be a key feature of SES positions, while SL and ST positions would operate above the GS-15 level but would not meet the SES criteria.

“The premise of the SES is valid for some

SES jobs,” says John Palguta, vice president for policy of the Partnership for Public Service and himself a former SES member. “But even though we’re just talking about 7,000 senior executives out of 2 million federal employees, not all 7,000 jobs are truly comparable.”

Part of the solution, Palguta says, is to shift some SES and senior people into ST or SL positions. However, he says, even among legitimate SES positions, there are differences in impact, scope of responsibility and skills needed. There should be room to recognize those differences in terms of compensation by raising the salary cap for at least that smaller number of SES executives who do meet the original vision of leaders with governmentwide perspective and who are capable of filling leadership roles in a variety of positions throughout the government, he contends.

“We’ll address that as part of a civil service reform initiative that we’ll be proposing in a few months,” he adds.

Inadequate and Uneven Compensation

Compared to private-sector executive salaries, which commonly represent vast multiples of average worker pay, the financial compensation of SES members as compared to the salaries of average federal workers and, especially, the GS-14s and GS-15s right below them, is relatively modest. Rates of pay for SES vary slightly based upon whether agencies have an OPM-certified appraisal system as follows:

Agencies without an OPM-certified appraisal system Agencies with an OPM-certified appraisal system

Minimum Basic Pay

Maximum Basic Pay

Maximum Total Pay

$119,554

$165,300

$199,700

$119,554

$179,700

$230,700

Unlike the GS system, there are no cost-ofliving increases, nor locality pay adjustments, for SES members. This was part of a conscious SES compensation reform that was intended to foster greater performance incentives, notes a 2011 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, “The Senior Executive Service: Background and Options for Reform.”

The implications are that the basic pay of w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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Senior Executive Service many SES members is less than the GS employees they supervise, noted the CRS report.

To provide additional fiscal incentives, several types of pay increases and awards are available to senior executives. Although automatic pay increases do not occur, pay adjustments can be awarded annually as a way to recognize good performance or to maintain an individual’s relative position within the SES pay range. However, like other civil servants, SES members have been subjected to the three-year federal pay freeze, which is scheduled to last through at least December 31.

Career executives with good performance ratings also may be eligible for performance awards (lump-sum bonuses) that can range from 5 percent to 20 percent of their basic pay. SES members also note that performance bonuses do not count toward senior executives’ retirement annuities. However, such awards, too, have been limited. Pursuant to a June 2011 OPM memo, agencies were required to reduce total spending on individual performance awards for members of the SES and senior-level and scientific and technical employees (SL/ST) to no more than 5 percent of aggregate salaries.

All SES members, regardless of type of appointment, may be eligible for incentive awards for a suggestion, invention or special act of service that improves the functioning of the federal government.

At agencies under political fire, SES bonuses have come under greater scrutiny. After launching a review of GSA managerial pay following the GSA’s infamous 2010 Western Regions Conference, Tangherlini announced he was cutting SES performance rewards by 85 percent in fiscal 2012.

And SES bonuses are now in the crosshairs of federal legislation. In May 2013, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, introduced bipartisan legislation that would ensure that SES bonuses are not awarded during sequestration. McCaskill claimed that nearly every member of the SES receives a bonus. In 2011, for example, the federal government gave bonuses to 6,519 members of the SES, approximately 81 percent of all SES employees. Other legislation targeting the SES has been introduced, including a bill passed by the House this year, H.R. 2879, that contained elements that would strip civil 32

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service protections from SES members by allowing their firing by agency heads.

Until this year, one additional source of bonuses existed for a small number of outstanding career senior executives each year — the Presidential Rank Awards. These honors have two categories: Distinguished Rank, which awards recipients 35 percent of their annual basic pay, and Meritorious Rank, which awards recipients 20 percent of their annual basic pay. Up to 1 percent of senior executives can be Distinguished Rank recipients in a given year, and up to five percent can be Meritorious Rank recipients per year. In 2012, 130 civil-service employees won such awards.

However, earlier this year, the Obama administration announced that the awards and their bonuses would be cancelled “to protect agency mission to the extent practicable,” The Wall Street Journal cited an administration source as having said.

“This is another smack in the face,” SEA President Carol Bonosaro says. “We’ve run the banquet since 1986, and what [the awardees] have done is astonishing; we have savings documented in the awards in the billions. Costs aren’t the issue – that’s ridiculous. It’s the inability of the federal government to defend these awards, which are a once-in-a-lifetime honor. It is disheartening that they have chosen to suspend them rather than defend them.

“Some members say this SES is slowly but steadily being dismantled and should move back to the old super-grade system,” says Bonosaro, who notes the federal contractor executive salary cap is $763,000. “The system was originally crafted to cleverly balance risk and reward, but when you are constantly upping the risk and reducing the reward, what are you left with?”

Inadequate Mobility

A key challenge facing the current SES program is a relative lack of rotation among agencies by SES members. A 2012 report by McKinsey & Co. and the Partnership for Public Service titled “Mission-Driving Mobility: Strengthening Our Government Through a Mobile Leadership Corps” found that almost half of the U.S. government’s 7,100 senior executives had stayed in the same positions in the same organizations

their entire SES careers, while only 8 percent had worked at more than one agency during their SES tenures. Fewer still had worked outside the federal government, whether in state and local government, nonprofit organizations or the private sector.

Many current and former SES members, and GS-15s and GS-14s just below them, who responded to an informal narfe magazine survey questioned whether the rotation requirement even makes sense, noting that some executives provide a high level of technical expertise specific to their agency.

As a former SES member, Palguta says he views interoffice and cross-functional mobility as very important in developing toptier interagency government executives. He cites his own experience serving in different positions at several agencies, which gave him insights into resolving problems that he would not have otherwise possessed.

Practical considerations also apply. For many, rotating to other geographical locations is infeasible given the many problems of relocating a household. Too, no locality pay makes rotating an SES member from a less expensive part of the country to a more expensive location, such as Washington, DC, the equivalent of a pay cut.

Excessive or Inadequate Workloads

Many SES members in the narfe magazine survey complained of overwork, particularly in their early years in the SES. “I am in the office from 7:30 every morning until 6 every night,” says one federal law enforcement official who retired due to mandatory age limitations and was rehired by the Department of Homeland Security as an SES federal annuitant with offset. “I still take work home, including on the weekends, and I stay in touch with the office while on leave. Many of my peers do the same.”

“The political appointees for whom I worked cared only about their careers for the brief time they planned to work for the agency, did little work themselves and typically ‘dumped’ excessive amounts of work on SES personnel,” says another retired SES member.

A Global Legislative Fix

In March 2012, responding to an SES hearing he chaired in 2011, now former Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-HI, introduced a bill, S. 2249, seeking to address many of the SES issues described here. With respect to compensation issues, the bill would tie the

A bill introduced in the last Congress addressed pay, personnel development and mobility issues.

GS pay system to the pay system for senior executives and allow senior executives to include performance bonuses in retirement annuity calculations. It also addresses GS-SES pay overlap by requiring senior executives who receive an appraisal of “fully successful” or better to receive an adjustment at least equal to what employees under the GS receive.

The bill, backed by the SEA, also would require an explanation of certain performance ratings to increase transparency; prohibit quotas in performance pay adjustments; and establish an SES Resource Office that would collect data on the SES and oversee candidate development, management and training, and require greater inclusion of women, individuals with disabilities and ethnic diversity among candidates in the hiring process. The bill would require agencies to establish onboarding programs for new executives; would allow agencies to establish interagency, intergovernmental and intersector rotation programs; and would require OPM to maintain a centralized database of these rotation opportunities, as well as a profile registry to assist agencies and senior executives in making rotation decisions.

“We’re trying to get [the Akaka bill] reintroduced in this session,” Bonosaro says, noting efforts have been complicated by the higher profile government shutdown and debt-limit debates.

—David Tobenkin is a freelance writer based in the greater Washington, DC, area. w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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Just a little time left to choose BlueCross and BlueShield at open enrollment, and pay as little as $0 for the newest hearing aids through TruHearing®

All appointments must be scheduled through TruHearing. MemberPlus Membership fee waived through 12/31/2014 (a $108 value). * Price shown does not include cost of comprehensive hearing exam. Examination § The Service Benefit Plan will pay a hearing aid benefit up to $2,500 total every 3 and testing for prescribing of hearing aids is covered under the Service Benefit calendar years for adults age 22 and over, and up to $2,500 total per calendar Plan. The Insured may need to submit for reimbursement. Service Benefit Plan year for members up to age 22. Do not rely on this communication piece alone for members get the TruHearing MemberPlus membership fee waived through complete benefit information. All benefits are subject to the definitions, limitations, December 31, 2014. $108 is the regular yearly cost for the TruHearing and exclusions in your Service Benefit Plan brochure. The Blue365® Discount MemberPlus membership. Must be a Service Benefit Plan member to access Program offers access to savings on items that you may purchase directly from TruHearing MemberPlus discounted pricing. State and local taxes and/or fees independent vendors, which may be different from items covered under your may apply. Prices and products subject to change.

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Phonak Bolero Q50 or Virto Q50

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TruHearing is an independent company providing discounts on hearing aids. hearing aids, acupuncture, chiropractic and vision services, you must exhaust your Service Benefit Plan benefits first. To find out what is covered under your policy, contact the Service Benefit Plan. The products and services described herein are neither offered nor guaranteed under any local Blue company’s contract with the Medicare program. In addition, these items are not subject to the Medicare appeal process. Any disputes regarding these products and

services are not subject to the Service Benefit Plan’s Disputed Claims process.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) may receive payments from Blue365 vendors. Neither the Service Benefit Plan, BCBSA, nor any local Blue company recommends, endorses, warrants or guarantees any specific Blue365 vendor or item. The Service Benefit Plan reserves the right to change, modify, or terminate any item and vendors made available through Blue365, at any time.

BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION IS AN ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT, LOCALLY OPERATED BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD PLANS.

Open Season Report

o

pen season Report

FEHBP plan changes

This is the third of a three-part series.

T

he 2013 Federal Benefits Open Season for Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) enrollment changes ends Monday, December 9. You should receive this issue of narfe magazine in late November, so there is still time to review health plans and make an informed decision.

FEHBP participants will be able to choose from 256 health plan choices during this Open Season.

For the first time in many years, there will be a health maintenance organization (HMO) choice in every state.

If you are a federal employee and not presently enrolled in the FEHBP, you may enroll during the Open Season period if you are not otherwise excluded from coverage because of the nature of your appointment.

If you are a federal annuitant and are not presently covered by the FEHBP as an enrollee or a family member, you cannot enroll in the FEHBP during Open Season, except if you previously suspended your FEHBP enrollment in favor of coverage under TRICARE, TRICARE For Life, a 36

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Medicare Advantage HMO plan, CHAMPVA, Medicaid or as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Open Season changes for employees are effective at the beginning of the first pay period after January 1, 2014.

Open Season changes made by annuitants and survivor annuitants are effective on January 1, 2014, and the premium changes will be effective in the February 1, 2014, annuity payments.

Plan Brochures

When deciding which plan is best for you, be sure to review your current plan’s 2014 brochure, as well as the brochures for other plans you are considering. The 2014 plan brochures for all of the FEHBP plans can be viewed online and downloaded at www. opm.gov/healthcare-insurance.

Each brochure is formatted the same way, with sections on specific topics such as “How Our Plan Has Changed,” “Your Costs for Covered Services” and “Coordinating Benefits With Other Coverage.” And all plan brochures have a box on the cover that provides the page numbers to find the

new premium rates and the plan’s changes for the new year.

Since the implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), all plans provide a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) with easy-to-understand information about out-of-pocket costs, coverage and rights of enrollees. Plans are responsible for informing their enrollees about where to find the SBC on their websites as well as how to obtain a paper copy of their SBC. In addition, under the ACA, all plans have removed annual limits on essential health benefits and offer coverage with no costsharing for specific preventive care services, including women’s preventive services.

Medically Underserved Montana and South Dakota have been dropped from the list of states designated as medically underserved for 2014. In medically underserved states, fee-for-service plans reimburse any licensed medical practitioner for all covered services within the scope of that license, even if they wouldn’t normally cover them in

states not designated as medically underserved. The medically underserved states for 2014 are: Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming.

Premium Changes

The overall weighted average total premium increase for nonpostal employees and all annuitants in the FEHBP for 2014, based on all of the enrollees in all of the plans, is 3.7 percent. For postal employ-

ees, it is 3.8 percent.

The 3.7 percent figure is not an across-the-board increase per plan. It is the weighted average increase for the total premium (government and employee share) for all of the plans in the FEHBP. This means that some plans’ premiums decreased, some did not change at all and some increased.

Fee-for-service (FFS) plans’ total premiums will rise an average of 3.2 percent, while local HMO plans’ premiums will increase an average of 6.7 percent.

Federal employees with self-

only coverage will pay, on average, $3.28 more per two-week pay period, while those with family coverage will see an average increase of $7.90. Enrollees in the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Standard option, the most popular enrollment, will see their monthly premiums increase $4.14 for self-only and $10.49 for family coverage.

There are HMO enrollees who will see very large increases in their share of the premiums and some whose premiums have dropped considerably.

If you are currently enrolled

Medicare Premiums: Part B and Part D Medicare Open Season began October 15 and ends December 7.

Part B

The monthly Medicare Part B base premium will remain at $104.90 in 2014.

Part D

The Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit is generally geared to people who do not have any employer-provided or union-provided prescription drug coverage. Under your FEHBP coverage, you simply pay copayments and/or coinsurance for your prescription drugs, so the vast majority of you will not need Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage.

Anyone covered under the FEHBP has what is known as “creditable prescription drug coverage.” This means that the FEHBP prescription drug coverage is at least as good as, if not better than, the Part D coverage.

This also means if a person with

FEHBP coverage turns down Part D when he or she is first eligible to enroll but signs up at some point in the future, he or she will not be required to pay a penalty for late enrollment in Part D. The FEHBP plan brochures for 2014 contain statements certifying the creditability of each individual plan’s drug coverage for Part D late-enrollment purposes.

These statements will be found at the beginning of each plan’s brochure, immediately before the table of contents, and will be headlined “Important Notice From (Plan’s Name) About Our Prescription Drug Coverage and Medicare.”

Part D requires a monthly premium in addition to the Medicare Part B premium. The estimated average monthly basic premium for 2014 will be about $31. Some may pay a higher monthly premium based on their income.

The Part D enrollee may have to pay up to the first $310 in prescription drug costs, the Part D deductible amount. (Some Part D enrollees will not be required to pay the $310 deductible.) In addition, Part D enrollees will be subject to co-pays until the combined amount paid by both the enrollee and the Part D plan reaches $2,850. After that, the coverage gap (donut hole) kicks in, and the enrollee pays 72 percent of the cost of generic prescriptions and 47.5 percent (after discount) of the cost for brand name prescriptions until they reach $4,550.

After that threshold is met, Part D enrollees will have to pay only a small co-pay or coinsurance for the rest of the calendar year.

If Medicare is a person’s primary insurer, FEHBP plans will coordinate prescription drug payments with the Medicare Part D carrier.

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Open Season Report

in one of the Aetna Open Access plans or one of the Health Net plans, look at your premiums for next year. These have doubledigit increases and, in some cases, triple-digit increases in the enrollee’s share of the premiums.

For example, the enrollee’s share of the monthly premium for family coverage for Health Net of California North will increase by more than $355 for both the Standard

and High option family coverage.

On the other end of the spectrum, monthly premiums for HIP Health of Greater NY (enrollment codes 512 and 515) will decrease $138 and $243, respectively, for 2014. And Health Partner Plans in many states will show significant decreases in premiums next year.

But even if your particular plan’s premiums are not rising by much, make sure you read the plan bro-

chure – particularly Section 2, “How We Change for 2014.” This section will reveal which, if any, out-of-pocket expenses, such as co-payments and coinsurance, will increase in 2014.

Also, when reading each plan’s brochure, note which costs are not included in meeting the plan’s yearly deductible. These out-of-pocket expenses can really add up.

—Federal Benefits Service Department

Fee-for-Service Plan Changes

F

ollowing are the six fee-forservice (FFS) plans available to all employees and annuitants and the changes in benefits, taken from their brochures.

In addition to the six open-toall plans, there are four FFS plans open to specific groups of federal employees and annuitants. For space reasons, they are not listed here. And because there are almost 250 FEHBP HMOs, it also is not possible to list their changes in this report. Premium rates for the 10 FFS plans are shown in the chart on p. 41.

OPM issues a guide to federal benefits for federal employees (RI 70-1) and a similar one for federal retirees and their survivors (RI 70-9). These provide premium and out-of-pocket expense data on all of the plans in the FEHBP. You can access and download these guides at www.opm. gov/healthcare-insurance.

When reviewing each plan’s changes, take special note of announced changes in preferred provider organizations (PPOs). If you live in a state where your plan is changing its PPO network, you need to contact the plan and ask for a new PPO directory for 2014 to assure

38

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that your doctors, hospitals, etc., will be in the new PPO network. Otherwise, you may wish to change plans during Open Season.

American Postal Workers Union Health Plan (APWU) High Option Changes. Premiums for both self-only and family coverage will increase.

In-network maternity benefits will be available at no cost.

Lab services will be available at no cost when performed by LabCorp or Quest Diagnosis.

In-network HIV screening will be available at no cost.

A one-time hepatitis C test will be available at no cost for those born between 1945 and 1965.

All radiologists and pathologists in a PPO hospital will be paid as innetwork, even if they are not preferred providers.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS) Standard Option Changes. Premiums for both self-only and family coverage will increase.

Catastrophic maximum amounts will be higher ($6,000-$8,000 for family; $5,000-$7,000 for selfonly); but beginning in 2014, the

calendar-year deductible for each will count toward the limit.

Coverage for home nursing care will double to 50 visits per year.

There will be a new Tier 5 specialty drug category with separate costs in 2014, and out-of-pocket costs for the other tiers will change.

Basic Option Changes. Premiums for both self-only and family coverage will increase.

Catastrophic out-of-pocket maximums for coinsurance and co-payments will be $5,500 for self-only and $7,000 for family coverage.

Co-payments for neurological testing and diagnostic tests (EEGs, Xrays, etc.) and outpatient diagnostic testing and treatment will increase.

There will be co-pay increases for nearly every tier of prescription drugs.

Changes to Both Standard and Basic. A new benefit of up to $350 will be offered for one wig per lifetime for hair loss due to cancer treatment.

The plan is increasing the dollar amount of its health account for completion of the Blue Health Assessment questionnaire, for achieving goals related to improving physical and emotional health.

Get Medicare Part B...

Perhaps for Free!

Federal retirees are leaving important benefits on the table. But it no longer makes sense to do that. The MHBP Part B Premium Savings Program makes it possible to get Medicare Part B coverage for virtually free. When you have Medicare Parts A & B and are enrolled in MHBP Standard Option, we will reimburse* your Medicare Part B premium up to the standard amount, $104.90 per month in 2013. That’s an annual savings of over $1,250 for an individual or $2,500 per couple. So claim what’s rightfully yours—Medicare Part B coverage compliments of MHBP.

It pays to have MHBP and Medicare: MHBP Standard Option provides comprehensive coverage that easily coordinates with Medicare.

Medicare Part B coverage will ultimately cost you nothing (barring any late enrollment penalty).

More coverage saves you money—you’ll have both MHBP and Medicare coverage.

Medicare’s late enrollment penalty is avoided by enrolling as soon as you become eligible.

Get in on the deal: 1. Enroll in MHBP Standard Option during the FEHBP Open Season—Nov.11 through Dec. 9. Use code 454 for Self Only coverage or 455 for Self and Family.

2. Register for the MHBP Part B Premium Savings Program.

Complete and return the enrollment form, which can be mailed to you or obtained at www.mhbp.com.

3. Sign up for Medicare Parts A & B, if you don’t already have

this coverage. The general enrollment period is Jan. 1 through March 31 each year.

Mitigate the added premium cost Medicare imposes for high-income earners.

Choose MHBP Standard Option with the Part B Premium Savings Program to maximize your coverage and save you money.

Learn more! Call MHBP at 1-888-475-2622 or visit www.mhbp.com. *You will be eligible to begin receiving your premium reimbursement after your Medicare and MHBP enrollments become effective. The effective dates can vary based on when you enroll for coverage (e.g., FEHBP Open Season, qualifying life event, Medicare general enrollment period, initial Medicare enrollment, etc.).

This is a summary of the Mail Handlers Benefit Plan Standard Option and Medicare. Before making a final decision, please read the official Plan brochure (RI 71-007). All benefits are subject to the definitions, limitations and exclusions set forth in the official Plan brochure. A single annual $42 associate membership fee makes all MHBP plans available to you. For more information about Medicare call 1-800-MEDICAR. © 2013 Coventry Health Care, Inc. All rights reserved.

Open Season Report

Additional new benefits include Vitamin D supplements for those age 65 and over, and benefits for insulin and diabetic supplies when obtained from a retail pharmacy or through the Mail Service Prescription Drug Program.

The plan will no longer cover heart-lung transplants.

Government Employees Health Association (GEHA) Standard Option Changes.

Premiums for both self-only and family coverage will increase.

Prescribed Vitamin D supplements will be covered for those age 65 and over.

There will be a combined limit of 60 visits per person, per year for physical, occupational and speech therapy.

Adjunctive procedures performed by a chiropractor, such as ultrasound and electrical muscle stimulation, will be covered.

GEHA will no longer offer a non-FEHBP plan for conversion purposes. Instead, the plan will assist in obtaining health benefits coverage inside or outside the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace.

Co-payments for generic drugs will double to $10 for retail and $20 through mail order.

Coinsurance for a medical emergency will increase to 15 percent of the plan allowance.

High Option Changes.

Premiums for both self-only and family coverage will increase.

Co-payments for generic drugs will increase to $10 for retail and $20 through mail order.

Enrollees with Medicare A and B primary will pay $15 for generic drugs through mail order.

Coinsurance for a medical 40

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emergency is 10 percent of the plan allowance.

Mail Handlers Benefit Plan (MHBP) Overall Plan Changes. The method for determining the plan’s benefit payment for office visits that involve comprehensive preventive care and problem-oriented care will change in 2014.

The cost-sharing has been eliminated for high-tech imaging services such as MRIs, CAT and PET scans provided at network stand-alone imaging centers when preauthorized and after the yearly deductible has been met.

There will be added benefits for certain services related to weight management.

The plan’s prescription drug formulary will change, resulting in some generic and preferred drugs being moved to different categories and some nonpreferred drugs being available only with preauthorization.

Standard Option Changes.

Premiums will decrease for selfonly coverage and increase for family coverage.

Catastrophic limits for 2014 will be $6,000 for self-only and $12,000 for family when network providers/facilities only are used. Limits will be $9,000 and $18,000, respectively, when network combined with non-network services are provided.

Co-payments and yearly deductibles will be included in the catastrophic limit.

Value Plan Changes. Premiums for both self-only and family coverage will increase.

Catastrophic limits will include co-payments and the yearly deductible when out-of-pocket expenses reach $6,500 for self-only and

$12,700 for family when services are provided at network providers/ facilities; $10,000 and $20,000, respectively, for services performed at a combination of network and non-network providers.

Co-payments for dependent children’s visits to a network primary physician will drop to $10.

Enrollee costs for network physician office visits related to allergy evaluation and to foot care have changed from a coinsurance to a co-payment of $50 per visit.

Enrollees taking certain maintenance medications will be required to obtain them through a CVS retail pharmacy or through mail order after the second refill.

National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) High Option Changes. Premiums will increase.

Benefits have been added to cover pneumococcal vaccine for adults; herpes zoster vaccine; annual biometric screenings for adults; skin cancer preventive medicine counseling; the tetanusdiphtheria-pertussis vaccine for pregnant women; initial office visit for acupuncture; autologous blood or marrow stem cell transplant, limited to an approved clinical trial under certain conditions; over-the-counter vitamin D supplements for adults age 65 and older; and over-the-counter prescribed aspirin for men ages 45 to 79 and women ages 55 through 79.

For 2014, the plan will cover skin cancer preventive medicine counseling for adults age 24 and younger and children age 10 and older, and fall-preventive medicine counseling for adults age 65 and older.

2014 premiums* — FEHBP Fee for Service

KEY: Employees pay biweekly Annuitants pay monthly

Enrollee Increase / Plan Option Code Total Premium Gov’t Pays Enrollee Pays Decrease

biweekly | monthly biweekly | monthly biweekly | monthly biweekly | monthly APWU High self High family Consumer-Driven self Consumer-Driven family

OPEN TO ALL 471 472 474 475

$252.38 | $546.82 $570.65 | $1,236.41 $179.85 | $389.68 $404.59 | $876.61

$189.29 | $410.12 $427.99 | $927.31 $134.89 | $292.26 $303.44 | $657.46

$63.09 | $136.70 $142.66 | $309.10 $44.96 | $97.42 $101.15 | $219.15

$1.84 | $3.98 $4.15 | $9.00 $1.31 | $2.84 $2.95 | $6.38

Blue Cross / Blue Shield Standard self 104 Standard family 105 Basic self 111 Basic family 112

$284.50 | $616.42 $642.60 | $1,392.30 $243.86 | $528.36 $571.02 | $1,237.21

$196.68 | $426.14 $437.62 | $948.18 $182.90 | $396.27 $428.27 | $927.91

$87.82 | $190.28 $204.98 | $444.12 $60.96 | $132.09 $142.75 | $309.30

$1.91 | $4.14 $4.84 | $10.49 $1.89 | $4.10 $4.43 | $9.60

GEHA High self High family Standard self Standard family HDHP self HDHP family

311 312 314 315 341 342

$290.45 | $629.31 $660.59 | $1,431.28 $192.33 | $416.72 $437.37 | $947.64 $203.47 | $440.85 $464.72 | $1,006.89

$196.68 | $426.14 $437.62 | $948.18 $144.25 | $312.54 $328.03 | $710.73 $152.60 | $330.64 $348.54 | $755.17

$93.77 | $203.17 $222.97 | $483.10 $48.08 | $104.18 $109.34 | $236.91 $50.87 | $110.21 $116.18 | $251.72

$2.61 | $5.66 $6.57 | $14.24 $3.15 | $6.82 $7.15 | $15.50 $2.43 | $5.25 $5.53 | $11.98

MHBP Value Option self Value Option family Standard self Standard family HDHP self HDHP family

414 415 454 455 481 482

$208.66 | $452.10 $497.46 | $1,077.83 $293.20 | $635.27 $671.00 | $1,453.83 $251.86 | $545.70 $570.68 | $1,236.47

$156.50 | $339.08 $373.10 | $808.37 $196.68 | $426.14 $437.62 | $948.18 $188.90 | $409.28 $428.01 | $927.35

$52.16 | $113.02 $124.36 | $269.46 $96.52 | $209.13 $233.38 | $505.65 $62.96 | $136.42 $142.67 | $309.12

$9.05 | $19.62 $21.58 | $46.77 $-.09 | $-.19 $.49 | $1.06 $.93 | $2.02 $2.11 | $4.57

NALC High self High family CDHP self CDHP family Value self Value family

321 322 324 325 KM1 KM2

$271.09 | $587.36 $588.67 | $1,275.45 $193.00 | $418.17 $419.08 | $908.01 $166.17 | $360.04 $360.85 | $781.84

$196.68 | $426.14 $437.62 | $948.18 $144.75 | $313.63 $314.31 | $681.01 $124.63 | $270.03 $270.64 | $586.38

$74.41 | $161.22 $151.05 | $327.27 $48.25 | $104.54 $104.77 | $227.00 $41.54 | $90.01 $90.21 | $195.46

$.26 | $.56 $.57 | $1.23 n/a (new plan) n/a (new plan) n/a (new plan) n/a (new plan)

SAMBA High self High family Standard self Standard family

441 442 444 445

$323.71 | $701.37 $762.34 | $1,651.74 $243.16 | $526.85 $555.35 | $1,203.26

$196.68 | $426.14 $437.62 | $948.18 $182.37 | $395.14 $416.51 | $902.45

$127.03 | $275.23 $324.72 | $703.56 $60.79 | $131.71 $138.84 | $300.81

$12.48 | $27.04 $30.48 | $66.04 $.00 | $.00 $.00 | $.00

RESTRICTED

Compass Rose Health Plan (members of the Intelligence Community, employees of Departments of Defense and State) High self 421 $268.74 | $582.27 $196.68 | $426.14 $72.06 | $156.13 $.72 | $1.56 High family 422 $617.80 | $1,338.57 $437.62 | $948.18 $180.18 | $390.39 $2.40 | $5.20 Foreign Service Benefit Plan (American Foreign Service personnel, Departments of State and Defense, USAID, Foreign Agricultural and Commercial services, other executive branch employees assigned overseas; Foreign Service retirees) High self 401 $231.41 | $501.39 $173.56 | $376.04 $57.85 | $125.35 $.57 | $1.24 High family 402 $570.19 | $1,235.41 $427.64 | $926.56 $142.55 | $308.85 $1.42 | $3.06 Rural Carrier Benefit Plan (active and retired rural letter carriers) High self 381 $283.97 | $615.27 $196.68 | $426.14 High family 382 $557.72 | $1,208.39 $418.29 | $906.29 Panama Canal Area Benefit Plan High self 431 $206.22 | $446.81 High family 432 $430.45 | $932.64 * Nonpostal rates

$154.67 | $335.11 $322.84 | $699.48

$87.29 | $189.13 $139.43 | $302.10

$-.28 | $-.60 $-4.28 | $-9.27

$51.55 | $111.70 $107.61 | $233.16

$.00 | $.00 $.00 | $.00

w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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41

cations needed longer than 60 days must be obtained through CVS mail service or CVS Caremark Maintenance Choice Program, or the enrollee will pay the entire cost of the medication if purchased at a retail pharmacy; co-pays per prescription will increase.

Standard Option Changes.

Premiums are unchanged for 2014.

Co-pays for prescription drugs will increase.

The catastrophic maximum will include the calendar-year deductible, inpatient hospital co-payments, office visit co-payments at PPOs and the plan’s specialty drugs co-payments.

Vision wellness for a healthier, stronger America.

Did you know 80% of vision loss is preventable?* UnitedHealthcare Vision offers two plans that include an annual comprehensive eye exam, savings on progressive no-line bifocals, and much more! Whatever your individual or family need is we make it easy to maintain healthy eyes and save money while you’re at it. Protect the precious gift of sight and your overall health.

FEDVIP Open Season Enrollment at: www.benefeds.com or 1.877.888.3337 November 11 – December 9 www.myuhcvision.com/fedvip 1-866-249-1999

2014

Open Season Report

A fourth tier for specialty mediSpecial Agents Mutual Benefit Association (SAMBA) cations has been added to the prescription drug benefits.

Overall Plan Changes. There The plan now offers CIGNA’s will be a catastrophic-protection, “Your Health First” program. out-of-pocket maximum for covHigh-tech radiology services ered medications bought through will require precertification, as the plan’s retail pharmacy netwill certain outpatient services work or mail service. such as durable medical equipThe plan will require preauthoment, home infusion therapy, rization for radiology, lab, X-ray speech therapy and home nursing and other diagnostic tests and for care. specialty drugs.

Benefits have increased for chiThe plan will add coverage for ropractic services to 26 manipuambulance services and remove lations per person, per calendar the deductible on in-network year. and out-of-network ambulance High Option Changes. Preservices. miums will increase.

The plan will have habilitative Retail prescription drug purcare coverage for physical, chases will be limited to the occupational and speech theraUHC3454pies.

FedNARFEad_Layout 1 8/26/13 11:00 AM initial Page 1 fill and one refill; medi-

¤

*WHO, 2010.

UnitedHealthcare Vision® coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, located in Hartford, Connecticut, or its affiliates. Administrative services provided by Spectera, Inc., United HealthCare Services, Inc. or their affiliates.

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Open Season: November 11 to December 9, 2013 More for less What's new for 2014 • 100% coverage for lab tests* • Out-of-network radiologists and pathologists will be covered as “in-network” when services are performed at an in-network hospital

High Option Premiums 2014 Self Only (471)

Self and Family (472)

Non postal

•

$136.70

$309.10

When you have Medicare A and B: • •

• • • •

Non-Postal monthly

With the APWU Health Plan’s High Option there is no extra paper work for you to fill out. Many retirees prefer the APWU Health Plan because of its affordable premium and excellent coverage.

You’ve earned the freedom to do what you want and enjoy life to its fullest.

•

APWU Health Plan’s High Option will waive deductible and coinsurance You are free to choose any doctor you wish without accruing out-of-network costs

Automatic claims submission to Medicare for the High Option No denials for pre-existing condition Hypertension and Diabetes Management Programs, which offers zero out-of-pocket cost for generic drugs and diabetic supplies Excellent Pharmacy benefits with both retail and mail order options $1500 towards hearing aids

*When performed by LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics

www.apwuhp.com Open Season Hotline 1(800) PIC APWU

Open Season Report

2014 FEHBP Prescription Drug Guide

I

n the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, prescriptions can be filled by health plans through the plan’s preferred retail pharmacies, nonpreferred retail pharmacies and the plan’s mail order service. The plans charge coinsurance and/ or co-payments for prescription drugs when they are purchased through any of these sources.

Some plans provide prescription drug plan benefits even if the plan’s annual deductible is not met. Other plans may have a specific annual deductible that must be met before the plan begins to pay prescription drug benefits.

Health plans will substitute avail-

able generic equivalent drugs for brand name drugs for prescriptions submitted to local pharmacies and mail order services, unless the prescribing physician indicates that the patient is to receive only the brand name medication.

To keep prescription drug benefit costs down for the plans, some are reducing out-of-pocket costs for generic drugs and raising them for brand name drugs. This will make prescription drugs more costly for enrollees needing life-saving and life-extending medications, which are usually brand name specialty drugs. You also will see that some plans have capped the yearly amount of out-of-pocket expenses

for prescription drugs to keep enrollees who need the expensive brand name drugs – sometimes called specialty drugs – from possible financial hardship.

Enrollees covered by Medicare Part A and Part B may note that some plans waive their own deductibles, coinsurance and copayments for hospital and medical services. These waivers do not apply to the prescription drug co-payments and/or coinsurance.

Some plans will charge lower coinsurance and co-payment rates for enrollees who are covered by Medicare Part A and Part B. In addition, there are some plans that charge Medicare enroll-

Prescription drug benefits for selected FEHBP plans Benefit

Rx Deductible Per Person

APWU - High PPO NonPPO

BC/BS - Standard PPO NonPPO

GEHA - Standard PPO NonPPO

None

None

None

None

None

None

Rx Deductible Per Family

None

None

None

None

None

None

20%/ 15% Medicare B

45% + T1-T5

$10

$10

$15

N/A

$20

$20

$10 Medicare B

N/A

$20

$20

Rx Generic Local Pharmacy $8 50%

Rx Generic Mail Order $15 N/A Rx Generic Mail Order for Medicare $15 N/A

Rx Brand Local Pharmacy 25% 50%

Rx Brand Mail Order 25% N/A

RX Brand Mail Order for Medicare 25% N/A

Rx Nonformulary Local Pharmacy 25% 50%

Rx Mail Order / Supply Size Per Co-pay 90 Days 90 Days

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30% Tier 2/ 45%+ 30% Tier 4

50% 50% Max $200 Max $200+

T4 30%/$95 N/A T5 30%/$155

50% 50% Max $500 Max $500+

T3 $105 Mail N/A T5 30% Local

50% 50% Max $500 Max $500+

T2 30%/$80 45%+ N/A N/A T3 45%/$105 Up to 90 days

N/A

90 days

90 Days

ees the same coinsurance and co-payments as non-Medicareeligible enrollees in one option, while charging Medicare enrollees smaller coinsurance and/or copayment amounts than nonMedicare enrollees in the plan’s other option.

Usually, patients will fill orders for short-term prescription drugs, such as antibiotics, at a local pharmacy. They will use mail order services for maintenance drugs, such as medications used to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease, etc.

It is wise to compare the prices of medications at local pharmacies with the cost of obtaining

the medications through mail order services. Many times, the cost of filling a prescription at a local pharmacy is less than the co-payment for using a mail order service. Some plans charge the full mail service co-payment even though the actual cost of the prescription drug is less than the copayment; other plans charge only the cost of the prescription drug if the actual cost of the drug is less for the mail service pharmacy than the co-payment. In other words, do not expect the mail service pharmacy to charge less than the co-payment because the local pharmacy has the prescription drug at a lower price.

Some plans have limitations on the amount and frequency of dispensing prescription drugs.

Plan members should be aware of those limitations and should also be aware of plans that have prior-approval requirements before a prescription can be filled.

The general rule for most plans is that refills can be obtained when 75 percent of the current supply is used up.

With some plans’ co-payments for brand name drugs increasing January 1, check your current prescription level to see if you can order a refill before the end of the year and avoid any increase.

—Federal Benefits Service Department

MHBP - Standard PPO NonPPO

NALC - High Samba - standard PPO NonPPO PPO NonPPO

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

$5

50%

45% / 45%+

20%

$8

$8

$10

$10

N/A

$8/$8/$12

$15

$15

$10

$10

N/A

$4/$7/$10

$15

$15

30% Max $70

$30% Max $70

30% 50% 45%+ $30% Max $200

$80/$120 $80/$120 N/A

$43/ 60 day $65/ 90 day

30% Max $150

30% Max $150

$80/$120 $80/$120 N/A

$37/ 60 day $55/ 90 day

30% Max $150

30% Max $150

40% Max $110

40% Max $110

90 days

90 days

50% 50% 45%+ $45% Max $200 90 days

90 days

90 days

90 days

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45

Open Season Report

2014 FEdvip plans

T

he Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) is a supplemental dental and vision program. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) contracts with 12 insurance carriers to provide comprehensive coverage under 14 different plans.

Three types of enrollment are available: self only, for the enrolled employee or annuitant; self plus one, for the enrolled employee or annuitant and one eligible family member; and self and family, for the enrolled employee or annuitant and all eligible family members. For more information, go to www.BENEFEDS.com or call 877-888-3337.

Dental Plans

There are six nationwide and four regional dental plans. Premiums are based on rating areas, determined by where enrollees live. A rating area is a group of ZIP codes.

Each dental plan can have up to five rating areas. See the chart, p.

47, for premiums for nationwide plans. For regional plan rates, go to www.BENEFEDS.com.

Nationwide Plans

(Nationwide plans include international coverage.)

Aetna Single High option plan • In addition to in-network benefits, will offer out-of-network benefits based on the Fair Health reimbursement rates (www. fairhealthconsumer.org) using the same payment percentages as in-network benefits, even in areas where access is adequate; • No deductibles; • Orthodontia covered after a 12-month waiting period for adults and dependent children 46

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with no age limit ($2,000 per person lifetime maximum on covered orthodontia services); • Free add-on discounts such as fitness, vision, weight-loss programs and natural products; • Medically necessary/noncosmetic implants.

Delta Dental Two plan options • No waiting periods outside of orthodontia; • Expansive network of Delta Dental PPO dentists; • No ID card required to receive services and no claim forms to file – PPO dentists file the claim; • No deductible charged when using in-network; • Out-of-network services provided.

FEP BlueDental Two plan options • No deductible for preventive, diagnostic, intermediate or major services under either option innetwork; • Out-of-network – High option has a $50 deductible, and Standard option has a $75 deductible; • Under both options, preventive and diagnostic services are paid in full when services are provided by in-network dentists; • Annual maximum – High option, $10,000 in-network; $3,600 out-of-network; • Annual maximum – Standard option, $1,500 in-network; $750 out-of-network; • Orthodontia has 12-month waiting period; adult orthodontia offered.

GEHA Two plan options • Orthodontia covered after 12-month waiting period with no

age limitation; • Under Standard option, the per person lifetime maximum on covered orthodontia services will increase to $2,500; • Members enrolled in GEHA’s dental plan options will receive the same association benefits as other GEHA plan members, including hearing and vision discounts, at no additional cost; • In addition to in-network benefits, will offer out-of-network benefits based on the American Dental Association fee schedule, using the same payment percentages as for in-network benefits, even in areas where access is adequate; • High 0ption nonorthodontia annual maximum will increase to $15,000 for 2014; Standard option nonorthodontia annual maximum will be $2,500; • Medically necessary/noncosmetic implants.

MetLife Two plan options • As of 2014, no waiting period for orthodontia ($2,000 in-network per person lifetime maximum on covered orthodontia services under Standard option; $3,500 per person lifetime maximum under High option); • Adult orthodontia added for the High option only with a lifetime maximum of $1,500; • Out-of-network benefit (there is a deductible for both the Standard and the High options’ out-ofnetwork services); • Medically necessary/noncosmetic implants.

United Concordia Single High option plan • No deductible; • Orthodontia covered after

2014 premiums - Nationwide Dental plans Plan Name Rating Self Only Self Plus One Region* biweekly | monthly biweekly | monthly AETNA PPO High

KEY: Employees pay biweekly Annuitants pay monthly self and Family biweekly | monthly

1 2 3 4 5

$12.88 | $27.91 $14.18 | $30.73 $15.10 | $32.72 $16.66 | $36.10 $18.09 | $39.19

$25.78 | $55.87 $28.40 | $61.53 $30.22 | $65.49 $33.34 | $72.24 $36.21 | $78.46

$38.67 | $83.78 $42.58 | $92.26 $45.32 | $98.19 $50.01 | $108.35 $54.30 | $117.65

Delta Dental PPO Standard 1

2

3

4

5 High 1

2

3

4

5

$8.71 | $18.87 $9.49 | $20.56 $10.24 | $22.19 $10.80 | $23.40 $12.34 | $26.74 $16.69 | $36.16 $18.31 | $39.67 $20.08 | $43.51 $21.36 | $46.28 $24.85 | $53.84

$17.44 | $37.79 $19.01 | $41.19 $20.49 | $44.40 $21.60 | $46.80 $24.70 | $53.52 $33.40 | $72.37 $36.63 | $79.37 $40.18 | $87.06 $42.75 | $92.63 $49.73 | $107.75

$26.15 | $56.66 $28.50 | $61.75 $30.74 | $66.60 $32.40 | $70.20 $37.04 | $80.25 $50.09 | $108.53 $54.94 | $119.04 $60.26 | $130.56 $64.12 | $138.93 $74.58 | $161.59

FEp Blue Dental PPO Standard 1

2

3

4

5 High 1

2

3

4

5

$9.39 | $20.35 $10.69 | $23.16 $11.84 | $25.65 $12.49 | $27.06 $13.81 | $29.92 $16.34 | $35.40 $18.60 | $40.30 $20.61 | $44.66 $21.77 | $47.17 $24.08 | $52.17

$18.81 | $40.76 $21.39 | $46.35 $23.70 | $51.35 $25.00 | $54.17 $27.65 | $59.91 $32.70 | $70.85 $37.21 | $80.62 $41.24 | $89.35 $43.57 | $94.40 $48.18 | $104.39

$28.20 | $61.10 $32.08 | $69.51 $35.54 | $77.00 $37.49 | $81.23 $41.46 | $89.83 $49.04 | $106.25 $55.81 | $120.92 $61.85 | $134.01 $65.34 | $141.57 $72.26 | $156.56

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

$9.00 | $19.50 $9.89 | $21.43 $11.24 | $24.35 $12.13 | $26.28 $13.47 | $29.19 $15.25 | $33.04 $16.77 | $36.34 $19.04 | $41.25 $20.56 | $44.55 $22.84 | $49.49

$18.03 | $39.07 $19.81 | $42.92 $22.49 | $48.73 $24.28 | $52.61 $26.97 | $58.44 $30.53 | $66.15 $33.57 | $72.74 $38.12 | $82.59 $41.15 | $89.16 $45.72 | $99.06

$27.05 | $58.61 $29.70 | $64.35 $33.72 | $73.06 $36.41 | $78.89 $40.43 | $87.60 $45.79 | $99.21 $50.38 | $109.16 $57.16 | $123.85 $61.74 | $133.77 $68.59 | $148.61

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

$8.68 | $18.81 $9.40 | $20.37 $10.44 | $22.62 $11.59 | $25.11 $12.73 | $27.58 $16.06 | $34.80 $17.97 | $38.94 $19.59 | $42.45 $21.21 | $45.96 $23.74 | $51.44

$17.38 | $37.66 $18.83 | $40.80 $20.89 | $45.26 $23.20 | $50.27 $25.48 | $55.21 $32.14 | $69.64 $35.97 | $77.94 $39.20 | $84.93 $42.44 | $91.95 $47.50 | $102.92

$26.06 | $56.46 $28.23 | $61.17 $31.33 | $67.88 $34.79 | $75.38 $38.21 | $82.79 $48.20 | $104.43 $53.94 | $116.87 $58.79 | $127.38 $63.66 | $137.93 $71.24 | $154.35

$13.72 | $29.73 $15.41 | $33.39 $17.10 | $37.05 $18.80 | $40.73 $20.49 | $44.40

$27.47 | $59.52 $30.85 | $66.84 $34.22 | $74.14 $37.61 | $81.49 $40.99 | $88.81

$41.18 | $89.22 $46.25 | $100.21 $51.34 | $111.24 $56.41 | $122.22 $61.48 | $133.21

GEHA PPO Standard

High

metlife PPO Standard

High

United Concordia PPO High 1

2

3

4

5

* Rating regions for each carrier are not the same for all plans

w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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47

Open Season Report

12-month waiting period for all members ($3,000 per person lifetime maximum on covered orthodontia services); • Coverage for certain implant prosthetics and resin crowns and an annual maximum of $10,000; • New, larger network of participating providers; • Out-of-network benefit at a lower percentage rate.

Dental Plans / Regional Plans

Dominion Dental Services, Inc. Service Area: Mid-Atlantic Region, including the District of Gift Membership half Maryland, pg ad_New Design 10/23/13 Columbia, Pennsylva-

EmblemHealth (formerly GHI) Service Area: All of New York state and some ZIP codes in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey.

• 100 percent coverage for all in-network dental services; • Out-of-network benefit, even in areas that meet access, that pays benefits up to a scheduled maximum; • Orthodontia covered after a 12-month waiting period for adults and dependent children ($2,000 per person lifetime maximum on covered orthodontia services); • Nonorthodontia annual maximum is $5,000;

nia, Delaware, most of Virginia and southern New Jersey.

Two dental health maintenance organization (HMO) options, Select Standard and Select High • The only dental HMO plan offered in the FEDVIP program; • No maximum dollar limits, waiting periods or deductibles; • Covered benefits include cleanings, fillings, endodontics, periodontics, crowns and bridges, implants and orthodontics for adults and children; • Predetermined fees (fixed copayments); • Access to one of the largest dental HMO networks in the Mid11:41 AM Page 1 Atlantic.

Give the GIFT of NARFE Membership Share NARFE this Holiday Season!

What does a Gift Membership include?

All the benefits afforded NARFE members.

FROM: Sponsor Name _____________________________________________ Membership ID No. _________________________________________

______________________________________________________ TO: Recipient Name ____________________________________________

Address __________________________________________________

CHOOSE MEMBERSHIP TYPE o eNARFE Chapter Online Membership – $40

OR

NARFE’s electronic chapter. Receive narfe magazine by mail each month, and all other communications by email and on eNARFE.org. Get important updates and legislative action alerts, and have access to the eNARFE blog.

o Local Chapter Close-to-Home Membership – $40*

Affiliation with the NARFE chapter closest to your home.

Receive narfe magazine each month; attend meetings, often with invited speakers; network; and get involved in grassroots lobbying efforts.

Chapter Affiliation: Chapter # __ __ __ __(if known, otherwise enroll me in the chapter closest to my ZIP code). *First-year dues. Subsequent years, $40 plus local chapter dues.

TOTAL DUES $40 First-Year Dues X ___________ = __________ Per Person # Enrolling Total Dues

Apt./Unit _________________________________________________ City _______________________ State _____ ZIP _________________ Phone (__________) ________________________________________ Email_____________________________________________________

PAYMENT OPTIONS n Check, Money Order or Bill Pay (Payable to NARFE) n Charge my: n MasterCard n VISA n American Express n Discover

n Active Federal Employee n Active Federal Employee Spouse n Annuitant n Annuitant Spouse n Survivor Annuitant

Card No. ____________________________________________

MAIL THIS APPLICATION TO: NARFE / Recruitment and Retention 606 N. Washington St. / Alexandria, VA 22314-1914

Name on Card ________________________________________

48

| d e c

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Expiration Date _________ /_________ mm

yyyy

Signature ______________________________ Date ________

THE METLIFE FEDERAL DENTAL PLAN. A HISTORIC REASON TO SMILE. Federal Employees and Annuitants have plenty of reasons to choose MetLife Dental.

• Our network of dentists is bigger than ever - more than 75% of dental offices participate.

• Plan enhancements - a new adult orthodontia benefit through our high option and increased annual and orthodontia maximum with the standard option.

• Over half a million federal employees have selected MetLife Dental and more than 95% of participants would recommend us to a friend*.

For more information, call 1-888-865-6854 or visit federaldental.metlife.com * 2012 MetLife Plan Participant Satisfaction Survey.

Like most group benefit programs, benefit programs offered by MetLife and its affiliates contain certain exclusions, exceptions, reductions, limitations, waiting periods, and terms for keeping them in force. Please contact MetLife or your plan administrator for costs and complete details. ©2013 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, NY 10166. PEANUTS © 2013 Peanuts Worldwide. L0813339906[exp1014][All States][DC,GU,MP,PR,VI]

Open Season Report

• Annual maximum rollover feature.

• No out-of-network benefit in areas that meet access standards.

Humana Service Area: All of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and most of Maryland.

• Fixed co-payments for each service, regardless of the amount of the charge; • No waiting period for orthodontia; • Per person annual maximum benefit, $15,000; • No out-of-network benefit in areas that meet the access standards.

Vision plans

Triple-S Salud Service Area: Puerto Rico • Orthodontia covered with a 50 percent coinsurance after a 12-month waiting period for dependents up to age 22 ($2,000 per person lifetime maximum on covered orthodontia services);

Aetna Vision • Coverage for exams and lenses (including contacts) every 12 months and the option to cover frames every 12 or 24 months; • Fixed pricing for premium progressive and premium antireflective lenses; • In- and out-of-network benefits; • No deductible in the voluntary plan; • Extra discounts at participating providers on balances over the allowance for frames and conventional contacts, Lasik laser surgery, retinal imaging and second pairs of eyeglasses.

FEP Blue Vision • Flat-rate reimbursement in areas without adequate access; • Low-vision services offered; • Discounts on laser vision correction; • Unconditional breakage warranty to repair or replace any plan frame or lens(es) for a period of one year from the date of delivery; • Coverage for elective contact lenses and medically necessary

contact lenses; • High option provides an outof-network benefit based on a fee schedule; • No out-of-network benefits under Standard option.

UnitedHealthcare Vision Plan • Will pay out-of-network, limited access and international benefits based on a published fee schedule; • Low-vision services offered; • Discounts on laser vision correction; • Prosthetic eye replacement on a lifetime maximum basis; • Coverage for elective contact lenses and medically necessary contact lenses.

Vision Service Plan (VSP) • Will pay out-of-network international benefits based on a published fee schedule; • Offers a WellVision Exam designed to detect conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, glaucoma and macular degeneration; • Guaranteed pricing on retinal screening; • Discounts on laser vision correction.

2014 premiums - Nationwide vision PLANS Plan Name Self Only Self Plus One

biweekly | monthly biweekly | monthly

50

self and Family biweekly | monthly

AETNA vision Standard High

$3.14 | $6.80 $6.13 | $13.28

$6.02 | $13.04 $11.69 | $25.33

$8.83 | $19.13 $17.15 | $37.16

FEP Blue Vision Standard High

$3.69 | $8.00 $4.67 | $10.12

$7.39 | $16.01 $9.36 | $20.28

$11.08 | $24.01 $14.04 | $30.42

UnitedHealthcare Vision Plan Standard High

$2.87 | $6.22 $4.08 | $8.84

$5.63 | $12.20 $7.98 | $17.29

$8.37 | $18.14 $11.87 | $25.72

vision Service Plan (VSP) Standard High

$3.56 | $7.71 $6.18 | $13.39

$7.14 | $15.47 $12.39 | $26.85

$10.71 | $23.21 $18.58 | $40.26

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NEW from Neutronic Ear

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The SOUNDWAVE is so small and light weight that when worn its invisible.

With the greatest of ease you can turn the volume control down to cheer with the crowd at a sporting event, and turn it back up for the car ride home - no matter where your adventures take you, you are in control. With a full 28 hour charge life, you can recharge the patented power tip at your convenience and rest assured your SOUNDWAVE will always deliver clear crisp sound.

Multiple tube and tip sizes are provided for proper personal fitting while leaving the ear canal open.

It works… but don’t take our word for it.

Why pay thousands to make everything sound louder when all you really need is Personal Sound Amplification? We’re so sure you’ll be absolutely thrilled with the quality and effectiveness of your SOUNDWAVE, that we are offering it to the public at a LOW introductory price with our exclusive in-home offer. If, for any reason, you are not amazed by how this product improves your life, simply return it for a refund within 30 days.

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Neutronic Ear is not a hearing aid. If you believe you need a hearing aid, please consult a physician.

Managing Money

Avoid a Beneficiary Nightmare

T

he beneficiary designation form is such a simple document, yet it’s often the source of huge and costly court battles. At the heart of the problem

is a tangled web of federal and state laws that differ for life insurance benefits, government retirement plans and nongovernment retirement plans.

When it comes to federal benefits, such as the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), the beneficiary designation is the almighty and powerful. Just how powerful you ask? Powerful enough to get all nine Supreme Court Justices to agree.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court closed the door on a fiveyear legal battle between an ex-wife and a widow over who should receive Warren Hillman’s FEGLI benefit. Although Warren Hillman’s last will and testament named his widow, Jacqueline Hillman, as beneficiary of his estate, Hillman’s ex-wife, Judy Maretta, received the $124,558.03 from FEGLI. That’s because certain assets, such as federal retirement accounts and life insurance benefits, do not pass to heirs according to a will or trust, but rather pass according to a beneficiary designation. The problem for Jacqueline was that Warren Hillman failed to remove his ex-wife as beneficiary when he 52

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divorced her in 1998. He also failed to update his beneficiary designation when he married Jacqueline in 2002.

Many states, including Virginia, the state in which the Hillmans lived, have laws in place to protect subsequent spouses from such oversights.

The problem for Jacqueline, however, is FEGLI is governed by the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Act of 1954 (FEGLIA), which states that death benefit proceeds are to be paid according to the beneficiary designation form.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously (affirming a Virginia Supreme Court decision) that FEGLIA trumps Virginia’s law.

In other words, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, the federal law governing FEGLI gives “highest priority to an insured’s designated beneficiary,” regardless of what other agreement might have been made, even if it’s a legal document, such as a divorce decree.

Two prior Supreme Court cases

By Mark A. Keen,

CFP®

set the stage for this priority.

The first was in 1950, when the Supreme Court awarded a veteran’s mother, rather than his widow, her son’s life insurance benefits because he hadn’t changed his beneficiary designation when he married.

The second case involved a serviceman who divorced, remarried and changed his beneficiary designation to his new wife, even though a divorce decree required the benefits be paid to his ex-wife. In 1981, the Supreme Court sided with the serviceman’s widow, saying that since the serviceman changed his beneficiary, the widow was entitled to the benefits.

When it comes to the TSP, the beneficiary designation form rules as well, but not without some quirkiness for married participants. Let me explain by comparing the TSP to private company retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), a federal law.

Under ERISA-governed plans, the spouse must receive the plan benefits (unless the spouse waives his or her rights in writing) when the participant dies – even if a beneficiary designation points to someone else.

In contrast, there are no spousal rights to protect against a TSP participant’s spouse from being disinherited if the TSP

FINANCIAL TOOLS NARFE offers an online retirement calculator and other financial planning tools. Find out more at www.narfe.org/ federalbenefits.

participant dies. However, a Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) TSP participant’s spouse does have the right to a joint and survivor annuity with a 50 percent survivor benefit, but that only comes into play while the TSP participant is living. For example, if a FERS TSP participant wants to take a TSP withdrawal, his or her spouse must consent in writing to giving up his or her

rights to the joint and survivor annuity in order for the TSP participant to take the withdrawal.

Interestingly, there’s no such requirement under ERISA-governed plans, so if a married 401(k) participant leaves his or her job, there’s nothing preventing that participant from liquidating the entire 401(k) and blowing it in Las Vegas, or rolling it into an IRA (which have no ERISA-governed spousal rights) and disinheriting the spouse.

It’s been said many times before, but it’s worth repeating: Review and update your beneficiary designations periodically and anytime you experience a life event.

Mark A. Keen, CFP®, is partner, Keen & Pocock, 10300 Eaton place, Fairfax, VA, and an investment adviser representative and registered principal of The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. (SFA). Securities and advisory services are offered through SFA. Email: mkeen@keenpocock.com.

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w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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53

The Informed Citizen

Maps: to0ls for organizing

G

eography buffs know the place where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet is called Four Corners.

This column is about the hundreds of places where multiple congressional districts meet, confounding even the informed citizen. More specifically, I want to recommend Web-based mapping tools to help members, especially chapter and district leaders, coordinate their efforts as NARFE advocates. By sharing the task, the load becomes manageable.

The map at the left below shows the congressional districts, drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, of the Los Angeles basin.

It is shown as just a snapshot or example of an interactive mapping tool hosted on Civic Impulse’s website, www.GovTrack. us. Like other Google Maps®, the user can zoom in or out to show the level of detail that is most useful. The starting point can

54

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be a state or a specific address.

Used for the 2012 congressional elections, these maps will be used for the next four congressional election cycles.

The second map, at the right below, is from the official site of the House of Representatives.

Use www.house.gov and insert a five-digit ZIP code. The map shown uses ZIP code 90001 to display the area where districts represented by three representa-

By Christopher Farrell, Legislative Representative

tives (CA-40, CA-43 and CA-44) come together. Again, because this website uses Google Maps, the maps are interactive.

Maps are the perfect complement to listings of the chapters that share the same congressional district. Both the maps and listings are available upon request. Specify the congressional district(s) or state for which you want a map and listing, and send the request to the NARFE Legislative Department via email (leg@narfe.org) or by phone (703-838-7760).

Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Maps, chapter lists, congressional profiles and congressional staff listings are the tools NARFE members must use to move Congress, one district at a time.

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Alzheimer’s Update

Research seeks new alzheimer’s drugs

N

ARFE members who know that I chair the NARFEAlzheimer’s National Committee often ask me about the status of Alzheimer’s research. To help answer that ques-

tion, I’d like to share the following information from the Alzheimer’s Association on some of the developments under way to stop, slow and prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

The hope for future drugs “Currently, there are five FDAapproved Alzheimer’s drugs that treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s – temporarily helping memory and thinking problems in about half of the people who take them. But these medications do not treat the underlying causes of Alzheimer’s.

“In contrast, many of the new drugs in development aim to modify the disease process itself, by impacting one or more of the many wide-ranging brain changes that Alzheimer’s causes.

These changes offer potential ‘targets’ for new drugs to stop or slow the progress of the disease.

Many researchers believe successful treatment will eventually involve a ‘cocktail’ of medications aimed at several targets, similar to current state-of-theart treatments for many cancers and AIDS.” Targets for future drugs “Over the past 30 years, researchers have made remarkable progress in understanding healthy brain function and what goes wrong in Alzheimer’s disease. The

56

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following are examples of promising targets for next-generation drug therapies under investigation in current research studies: “Beta-amyloid is the chief component of plaques, one hallmark Alzheimer’s brain abnormality. Scientists now have a detailed understanding of how this protein fragment is clipped from its parent compound amyloid precursor protein by two enzymes – beta-secretase and gamma-secretase. Researchers are developing medications aimed at virtually every point in amyloid processing. This includes blocking activity of both enzymes; preventing the betaamyloid fragments from clumping into plaques; and even using antibodies against beta-amyloid to clear it from the brain.

“Tau protein is the chief component of tangles, the other hallmark abnormality. Researchers are investigating strategies to keep tau molecules from collapsing and twisting into tangles, a process that destroys a vital cell transport system.

“Inflammation is another key Alzheimer’s brain abnor-

By Jane rodgers NARFE-alzheimer’s Chair

mality. Scientists have learned a great deal about molecules involved in the body’s overall inflammatory response and are working to better understand specific aspects of inflammation most active in the brain. These insights may point to novel antiinflammatory treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

“Insulin resistance and the way brain cells process insulin may be linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers are exploring the role of insulin in the brain and closely related questions of how brain cells use sugar and produce energy. These investigations may reveal strategies to support cell function and stave off Alzheimer-related changes.”

In addition to investigating possible drugs, the Alzheimer’s Association says that many clinical trials in progress include various brain imaging studies and testing of blood or spinal fluid to find ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s in its earliest stages and to gauge the response of individuals to treatment.

While researchers are making strides, we need more – and more funding for – research efforts like these. Let’s keep doing our part with donations to the NARFE-Alzheimer’s Fund.

Jane Rodgers is chair of the NARFE-Alzheimer’s National Committee. email: ajrodgers@tds.net.

Released to the Public: Bags of Vintage Buffalo Nickels Historic 1920-1938 “Buffalos” by the Pound

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Actual size is 21.2 mm

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2013 marks the 100th anniversary of an American Classic: the Buffalo Nickel. To honor this milestone, New York Mint is releasing to the public bags of original U.S. government Buffalo Nickels not seen in circulation for decades. Now they can be acquired for a limited time only—not as individual collector coins, but by weight— just $49 for a full Quarter-Pound Bag. 100% Valuable Collector Coins— GUARANTEED! Every bag will be filled with collectible vintage Buffalos from over 70 years ago, GUARANTEED ONE COIN FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SERIES (dates our choice): • 1920-1929—“Roaring ’20s” Buffalo • 1930-1938—The Buffalo’s Last Decade • Mint Marks (P,D, and S) • ALL Collector Grade Very Good Condition • FREE Stone Arrowhead with each bag Every vintage Buffalo Nickel you receive will be a coveted collector coin—GUARANTEED! Plus, order a gigantic full Pound bag and you’ll

also receive a vintage Liberty Head Nickel (1883-1912), a valuable collector classic!

Long-Vanished Buffalos Highly Coveted by Collectors Millions of these vintage Buffalo Nickels have worn out in circulation or been recalled and destroyed by the government. Today, significant quantities can often only be found in private hoards and estate collections. As a result, these coins are becoming more soughtafter each day. In fact, the market price for Buffalo Nickels increased 76% from October 2002 to October 2012.

Supplies Limited—Order Now! Supplies of vintage Buffalo Nickels are limited as the availability continues to shrink. And the 100th anniversary is certain to drive demand up even further! They make a precious gift for your children, family and friends that will be appreciated for a lifetime.

NOTICE: Due to recent changes in the demand for vintage U.S. coins, this advertised price may change without notice. Call today to avoid disappointment.

Prices and availability subject to change without notice. Past performance is not a predictor of future performance. NOTE: New York Mint® is a private distributor of worldwide government coin and currency issues and privately issued licensed collectibles and is not affiliated with the United States government. Facts and figures deemed accurate as of October 2013. ©2013 New York Mint, LLC.

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2012 2013 2012 2013

For the Record

Thrift Savings Plan Monthly Returns G FUND

F FUND

C FUND

S FUND

I FUND

NOVEMBER

0.11%

0.16%

0.57%

1.53%

2.41%

DECEMBER

0.12%

(0.13%)

0.91%

2.69%

4.02%

JANUARY

0.13%

(0.56%)

5.18%

6.96%

4.45%

FEBRUARY

0.13%

0.51%

1.36%

1.00%

(0.99%)

March

0.13%

0.07%

3.75%

4.69%

0.88%

APRIL

0.12%

1.02%

1.93%

0.65%

5.32%

MAY

0.12%

(1.78%)

2.34%

2.71%

(3.12%)

June

0.14%

(1.53%)

(1.34%)

(0.99%)

(2.77%)

JULY

0.18%

0.13%

5.10%

6.88%

5.29%

AUGUST

0.18%

(0.48%)

(2.89%)

(2.76%)

(1.31%)

SEPTEMBER

0.19%

0.99%

3.14%

5.89%

7.41%

OCTOBER

0.19%

0.89%

4.60%

2.94%

3.38%

YTD

1.52%

(0.78%)

25.34%

31.13%

19.43%

LAST 12 MO

1.75%

(0.75%)

27.21%

36.72%

27.22%

L INCOME

L 2020

L 2030

L 2040

L 2050

NOVEMBER

0.34%

0.77%

0.93%

1.06%

1.19%

DECEMBER

O.47%

1.19%

1.48%

1.69%

1.93%

JANUARY

1.10%

2.83%

3.56%

4.11%

4.63%

FEBRUARY

0.27%

0.41%

0.49%

0.54%

0.56%

MARCH

0.73%

1.69%

2.12%

2.44%

2.71%

APRIL

0.67%

1.58%

1.91%

2.13%

2.41%

MAY

0.19%

0.33%

0.43%

0.51%

0.53%

JUNE

(0.30%)

(0.94%)

(1.20%)

(1.40%)

(1.59%)

JULY

1.21%

2.95%

3.72%

4.29%

4.83%

AUGUST

(0.39%)

(1.22%)

(1.60%)

(1.87%)

(2.11%)

SEPTEMBER

1.12%

2.71%

3.40%

3.90%

4.42%

OCTOBER

1.01%

2.23%

2.75%

3.11%

3.47%

YTD

5.74%

13.19%

16.53%

19.01%

21.40%

LAST 12 MO

6.60%

15.42%

19.35%

22.30%

25.22%

THIS CHART is provided as a service to NARFE members who enrolled in the Thrift Savings Plan while employed by the federal government. Retirees are not eligible for enrollment. These returns are net of the effect of accrued administrative expenses and investment expenses/costs. Percentages in () are negative. Source: TSP

G Fund: Government securities (specially issued to the TSP) F Fund: Government, corporate and mortgage-backed bonds C Fund: Stocks of large- and medium-size U.S. companies S Fund: Stocks of small- to medium-size U.S. companies (not included in the C Fund) I Fund: International stocks of 21 developed countries L Fund: Invested in the G, F, C, S and I Funds (The proportion of L Fund balance invested in each of the individual TSP funds depends on the L Fund chosen.)

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TSP Funds have a strong October TSP funds gained strongly in October. Equity prices reacted positively to the nomination of Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve and to the resolution of the U.S. government budget impasse.

Bond prices reacted positively to the resolution of the budget impasse as well, but the F Fund’s year-to-date return remains negative.

–BY william H. jacobson, deputy chief investment officer of the Thrift Savings Plan

2014 COLA: 1.5 %

R

etirees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) will receive a 1.5 percent increase to their annuities in January 2014.

“The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for next year is welcome news for countless Americans who rely on the increase to keep up with the rising price of food, housing, transportation and medical care,” said NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin.

“Despite the partial relief this COLA will provide, the announcement is a reminder that our method for calculating the rising cost of goods and services is out of sync with the reality faced by millions of federal retirees, Social Security recipients and military retirees, who spend more than twice as much on medical care than the population measured by the CPI-W formula. While the present formula isn’t perfect, a proposed switch to the Chained CPI would only make a bad situation worse,” Beaudoin added.

(See story, p. 6).

The CPI represents purchases of food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care, recreation, education and communication, and other goods and services. Included are various government fees, such as water charges, auto registration fees, and sales and excise taxes.

Month

CPI-W

Monthly % Change

% Change from 226.936

October 2012

227.974

-0.1

0.45

November

226.595

-0.6

-0.15

December

225.889

-0.3

-0.46

January 2013

226.520

+0.3

-0.18

February

228.677

+1.0

+0.77

March

229.323

+0.3

+1.05

April

228.949

-0.2

+0.89

May

229.399

+0.2

+1.09

June

230.002

+0.3

+1.35

July

230.084

+0.04

+1.39

August

230.359

+0.1

+1.51

September

230.537

+0.08

Donate to NARFE Programs Support Alzheimer’s Research

Your charitable contribution is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Write your chapter number on check; make it payable to: NARFE-Alzheimer’s Research

Enclosed is my NARFE-Alzheimer’s contribution: $ Every cent that is contributed is used for research.

Please circle: Mr. Mrs. Miss Ms. and mail to: Name: Alzheimer’s Association Address: 225 N. Michigan Ave., 17th Floor City: State: ZIP: Chicago, IL 60601-7633 Chapter Number: Credit Card Information:

MasterCard Visa NARFE members contributed for If you have any questions, write to:

Discover AMEX Alzheimer’s research: $11 Million Fund National Committee Chair Card Number: Jane Rodgers, P.O. Box 234 Expiration Date: (mm)/ (yy) Wadesville, IN 47638-0234 *Total as of September 30, 2013 3-Digit Security Code: 100% of all contributed funds go to Name: (please print) Email: ajrodgers@tds.net

$10,501,105* Alzheimer’s research.

Signature

Join the Silver CIrcle Clip this contribution form and mail to: NARFE Silver Circle, 606 N. Washington St. Alexandria, VA 22314

•For a contribution of $25 or more, you will receive a Silver Circle pin, and your name will be listed in narfe magazine with other contributors.

•For a contribution of $1,000 or more, your name will be placed on the “Wall of Fame” at NARFE Headquarters.

YOUR CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION IS TAX-DEDUCTIBLE TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW.

/

Enclosed is my Silver Circle contribution: $ ID # (ID # may be found on your narfe magazine label or your NARFE membership card)

Name: Address: City: Silver Circle contributions are NOT deductible for federal income tax purposes.

Installment Plan Wall of Fame 12-month installment plan

Give to the Scholarship and Disaster Funds

Please mail coupon and check to: FEEA 3333 S. Wadsworth Blvd., Suite 300 Lakewood, CO 80227

/

All donations go to the NARFE General Fund to support NARFE programs and operations.

State:

ZIP:

My check is enclosed

(Please make check payable to NARFE Silver Circle.)

Please charge my credit card Card type MasterCard Visa

Discover AMEX Card Number: Expiration Date: (mm)/ (yy) Name: (please print)

Signature

Make check payable to: NARFE-FEEA Disaster Fund or NARFE-FEEA Scholarship Fund.

Date

YES!

Date

/

/

I would like to help with my contribution.

Please check appropriate box(es). To make credit-card contributions, call 800-338-0755. Scholarships are available to children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of federal civilian retirees and current federal employees who are NARFE members.

NARFE-FEEA Disaster Fund

Amount: $

NARFE-FEEA Scholarship Fund

Amount: $

Name: Address: City:

State:

ZIP:

NARFE News

’tis the season for holiday cards

NARFE funds 62 SCHOLARShips

N

ARFE is proud to present the 2013 NARFE Scholarship winners and their NARFE sponsors. The list appears on pp. 6162. Each student received a certificate and a $1,000 check for the 2013-14 school year. Winners are listed according to the region of their sponsor.

NARFE is pleased to showcase a portion of an essay submitted by one of the scholarship winners (see below). Contestants were asked to answer the question, “Why is federal civil service important to America?” The featured essay was written by Shannon Young of Colo-

rado Springs, CO. She is a freshman at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, and is the granddaughter of Sharon Killman of Custer (SD) Chapter 2200.

NARFE extends special thanks to the NARFE members from the Association’s 10 regions who served on the judging teams and to the staff of the Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund, which administers this program for NARFE. Applications for the next scholarship program will be printed in the February issue of narfe magazine.

Members also can download the

why federal civil service is important to america

By Shannon Young, Region V Scholarship winner

On June 27, 2012, I ran, my face covered, through the hardly recognizable streets in an attempt to escape from the thick orange ash and the towering flames raging down the slope of the mountain and toward the neighborhoods in what would soon become the most destructive wildfire in the history of Colorado.

The Waldo Canyon fire ripped through the backyards, trees and homes of my friends, neighbors and classmates, reducing houses and bodies to ash. Some people would lose everything. Yet, there is one com-

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monality joining our hearts: Our thankfulness toward the firefighters, police and government law enforcement personnel keeping us safe, evacuating Shannon Young us, sleeping in tents for weeks on the fire line, ripping porches from houses, and breaking through fences to save homes, possessions and lives. Our heroes were covered in soot, exhausted and armed with hoses.

In a new fundraising campaign, NARFE mailed an assortment of holiday greeting cards to members in October. A gift bag and NARFE ballpoint pen accompanied the cards. “These cards are a gift to members,” said NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin.

“However, we hope many members will use this opportunity to contribute to our programs. Your donations will help us continue to vigorously defend the earned benefits of federal employees and retirees.”

For chapter photos, see our Out and About Photo Gallery at www.narfe.org/narfemagazine.

application from the NARFE website beginning in February.

To make a tax-deductible donation to the NARFE Scholarship Program, see the coupon on p. 59.

Federal civil service is important to my community and me in a very personal way. However, it shouldn’t require such a disastrous event for people to see that.

People across the country are affected by the hard work of these employees providing mail service, protecting our borders and encouraging development of safe medicines.

A disheartening lack of appreciation stretches across the nation. This nation demands a serious wake-up call and, although that is exactly what my community received, I pray it does not take such a horrific tragedy.

Open your eyes and see the hard work and dedication of our federal civil service employees that lie behind what most of us take for granted, as a nation, in our day-to-day lives.

2013 NARFE Scholarship Winners Region I

Nicolas Chapman, Windsor, CT University of Connecticut Grandson of Estelle LaBarre, Chapter 154 - CT Steven Earlie, Moriches, NY Stony Brook University Son of Thomas Earlie, Chapter 1264 - NY Benjamin Gilbert, Charleston, SC University of Virginia

Grandson of Dolores Sackstein, Chapter 1889 - NY Meghan Grela, Weston, MA Dartmouth College Granddaughter of Leo Glasheen, Chapter 1694 - NH Joshua Hubbard, Barre, MA University of Massachusetts Grandson of Felicity Hubbard, Chapter 257 - CT Ryan Kohl, Waterford, CT Tufts University Grandson of Nelson Hubbell, Chapter 158 - CT

Region II

Austin Appel, Bel Air, MD Florida State University Grandson of Robert Bailey, Chapter 1770 - MD Christian Cieri, Long Branch, NJ University of Rochester Son of Kevin Cieri, Chapter 2363 - NJ John Padgett, Baltimore, MD University of Maryland Son of John Padgett, Chapter 1990 - MD Colleen Phelan, Tinton Falls, NJ The College of New Jersey Daughter of Carol Phelan, Chapter 2363 – NJ Darius Thompson, Bowie, MD Johns Hopkins University Son of Karen Thompson, Chapter 1747 - MD

John Woloschuk, Loretto, PA Saint Francis University Son of Robert Woloschuk, Chapter 1130 - PA

Region III

Joshua Copeland, Albemarle, NC Lenoir-Rhyne University Grandson of William Lewis, Chapter 1013 - SC Grant Galvin, Fairbanks, AK University of Alaska Grandson of Jack Moore, Chapter 2273 - FL

Megan Rude, Springfield, OH Wittenberg University Daughter of Howard Rude, Chapter 2363 - OH

Nathan Searcey, Casper, WY Anderson University Grandson of Forest LaBoyd Searcey, Chapter 130 - OK

Zach Weglarz, Macomb, MI University of Michigan Grandson of Donald Gunnell, Chapter 1593 - MI

Taylor Varisco, Metairie, LA Louisiana State University Grandson of Lamar Hale, Chapter 99 - LA

Region V

Emily Bauer, Des Moines, IA Georgetown University Daughter of Pauline Bauer, Chapter 148 - IA

Bennett Guthrie, Athens, GA Athens Technical College Grandson of Larry Guthrie, Chapter 548 - FL

Kelsey Clay, Lemars, IA Iowa State University Daughter of Kimberly Clay, Chapter 277 - IA

Jala Morrow, Vicksburg, MS Jackson State University Daughter of Agnes Morrow, Chapter 1501 - MS

Blake Foraker, Burrton, KS Kansas State University Grandson of Marilyn Weide, Chapter 2077 - KS

Megan Pavlov, Panama City Beach, FL University of Florida Granddaughter of Anna Krohn, Chapter 86 - FL

Shealyn Shafer, Summersville, WV West Virginia State University Granddaughter of Robert Scriven, Chapter 1509 - NE

Margaret Smith, Decatur, GA Auburn University Granddaughter of Jack Smith, Chapter 270 - AL

Rebekah Strode, Belle, MO Ozark Christian College Granddaughter of Jeanette Rosenkoetter, Chap. 1240 - MO

Region IV

Shannon Young, Colorado Springs, CO Colgate University Granddaughter of Sharon Killman, Chapter 2200 - SD

Lydia Crain, Indianapolis, IN University of Evansville Granddaughter of Richard Staley, Chapter 151 - IN Brianna Dombo, Parma, OH University of Notre Dame Daughter of Christine Dombo, Chapter 470 - OH

Region VI

Caroline Caywood, Parker, TX Baylor University Granddaughter of Robert Keller, Chapter 2308 - TX

Ryan Kirby, Springfield, IL University of Illinois Grandson of Owen Kirby, Chapter 348 - IL

Ned Pollard, Baltimore, MD University of Chicago Grandson of Betty Pollard, Chapter 674 - AR

Alanna Payne, Evansville, IN University of Evansville Granddaughter of Virlee Payne, Chapter 326 - IN

Gabriel Reichman, San Antonio, TX University of Texas Grandson of Morris Levy, Chapter 93 - AR

Samuel Weiger, Arlington, TX University of Missouri Son of Ben Weiger, Chapter 1201 - TX

Region VII

Weston Forster, Salt Lake City, UT Cornell University Grandson of Gertrude Pauline Forster, Chapter 718 - UT Benjamin Pearce, Loami, IL Western Illinois University Grandson of Mary Lou Wilson, Chapter 1085 - CO Courtney Walker, Sugar Land, TX Texas A&M University Granddaughter of Mary Ellen McKay, Chapter 182 - NM Katherine White, Prescott, AZ Arizona State University Daughter of Cynthia White, Chapter 2363 - AZ Shawn White, Prescott, AZ Arizona State University Son of Cynthia White, Chapter 2363 - AZ Libby Whittemore, Loveland, CO Colorado Christian University Granddaughter of Floyd Roberson, National Only - WY

Region VIII

Victoria Beltchenko, Simi Valley, CA University of San Francisco Granddaughter of Thomas Braniff, Chapter 190 - CA Kimberly Biddlecom, Hampden, ME University of Maine Granddaughter of Joan Biddlecom, Chapter 940 - CA

(Continued on p. 62) w w w. n a r f e . o r g

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61

NARFE News

2013 NARFE Scholarship Winners (Continued from p. 61)

Bailey Gary, Davis, CA Harvard College Granddaughter of Gerald Hicks, National Only - CA Danielle Petitmermet, Cambridge, ID Boise State University Granddaughter of Eddie Spohr, Chapter 1016 - CA Alexander Rezai, Huntington Beach, CA Stanford University Grandson of Patricia Watts, Chapter 1266 - CA Mason Schmidt, Oakdale, CA University of California Davis Grandson of Carl Schmidt, Chapter 2208 - CA

Region IX

KellyAnn Cameron, Spokane, WA Mount Holyoke College

Granddaughter of Roger Bosky, Chapter 32 - WA Ashley Kaul, McGregor, TX University of North Texas Granddaughter of Ken Kaul, Chapter 32 - WA Laura Rea, Boise, ID Whitman College Granddaughter of Margaret Rea, Chapter 210 - OR Raeann Rubenthaler, Whiteface, TX Texas Tech University Granddaughter of Gordon Rubenthaler, Chapter 515 WA Hannah Switzer, Lewiston, ID Arizona State University Granddaughter of Earl Pepper, Chapter 515 - ID Thomas Zbyszewski, Carlton, WA Whitman College

Son of Jennifer Zbyszewski, Chapter 239 - WA

Region X

Michelle Barbeau, Vienna, VA College of William and Mary Granddaughter of Raymond Barbeau, Chapter 192 - NC Iman Hamid, Downey, CA University of California Los Angeles Daughter of Khaled AbdolHamid, Chapter 2363 - VA

Alexander Rubin, Anderson, SC Clemson University Grandson of Handley Oswalt, Chapter 1956 - TN April Willis, Elizabethtown, KY University of Louisville Granddaughter of Edward Harrop, Chapter 1512 - KY

International

Kelsey LaFreniere, Oak Ridge, TN Baylor University Granddaughter of Michael LaFreniere, Chapter 2363 - TN Christopher Lundblade, San Antonio, TX Belmont University Grandson of George Ferrell, Chapter 166 - WV

Amani Martin-Gross, Killeen, TX Central Texas College Daughter of Lorna MartinGross, Chapter 4044 Germany Aolani Martin-Gross, Killeen, TX Central Texas College Daughter of Lorna MartinGross, Chapter 4044 Germany

narfe Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1.Publication Title: NARFE 2.Publication Number: 4632-60 3.Filing Date: Sept. 25, 2013 4.Issue Frequency: Monthly 5.Number of Issues Published Annually: 12 6.Annual Subscription Price: $45 7.Address of Known Office of Publication: National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, 606 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1914 8.General Business Office of the Publisher: National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, 606 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1914 9.Names and Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: Publisher: National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, 606 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1914 Editor: Margaret M. Carter, 606 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1914 Managing Editor: Not Applicable 10.Owner: National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, 606 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1914 11.Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities: None 12.Tax Status: Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months 13.Publication Title: narfe 14.Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: October 2013 15.Extent and Nature of Circulation:

Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months

No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date

A. Total Number of Copies (Net Press Run) 264,677 255,981 B. Paid Circulation 1.Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 254,798 245,478 2.Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 0 0 3.Paid Distribution Outside the Mails including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution Ouside USPS 1,306 564 4.Paid Distribution by Other Classes of MailThrough the USPS 219 525 C. Total Paid Distribution 256,323 246,567 D. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution 1.Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included on PS Form 35410 0 0 2.Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 0 0 3.Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS 1,492 2200 4.Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail 6,362 6,714 E.Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution 7,854 8,914 F.Total Distribution 264,177 225,481 G.Copies Not Distributed 500 500 H.TOTAL

264,677 255,981 I.Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation 97 96.5 16.Publication of Statement of Ownership: December 2013 17.I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete.

Margaret M. Carter, Editor/Sept. 25, 2013

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Active and Retired Federal Employees ...

JOIN NARFE TODAY!

National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association The only organization dedicated solely to protecting and preserving the benefits of all federal workers and retirees, NARFE informs you of any developments and proposals that affect your compensation, retirement and health benefits, AND provides clear answers to your benefit questions.

Who Should Join?

Three Easy Ways To Join 1.

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N A R F E M E M B E R S H I P A P P L I C AT I O N n YES. I want to join NARFE. n Mr. n Mrs. n Miss n Ms. Full Name ________________________________________ Street Address ____________________________________ Apt./Unit ________________________________________

I am a (check all that apply) n n n n n

Active Federal Employee Active Federal Employee Spouse Annuitant Annuitant Spouse Survivor Annuitant

n Please enroll my spouse

City _______________________ State _____ zIp ________

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phone (__________) _______________________________

Spouse’s Email ____________________________________

Email____________________________________________

NARFE respects the privacy of our members. Personal information is used to provide content and relevant communications to our members, and will not be sold or rented to third parties without your express permission.

Choose Your Membership Type o eNARFE Chapter Online Membership – $40 NARFE’s electronic chapter. Receive narfe magazine by mail each month, and all other communications by email and on eNARFE.org. Get important updates and legislative action alerts, and have access to the eNARFE blog.

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Receive narfe magazine each month; attend meetings, often with invited speakers; network; and get involved in grass-roots lobbying efforts.

Name on Card _________________________________

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Date _________________________________________

*First-year dues. Subsequent years, $40 plus local chapter dues.

Total Dues $40 First-Year Dues X __________ = __________ per person # Enrolling Total Dues

mm

yyyy

Signature _____________________________________

MAY WE THANK SOMEONE? If applicable, please provide the name, membership and chapter number of the member who introduced you to NARFE: Recruiter’s Name __________________________________ Recruiter’s Membership ID __________________________ Recruiter’s Chapter Number _________________________

MAIL THIS APPLICATION TO NARFE Member Records / 606 N. Washington St. / Alexandria, VA 22314-1914

NARFE’s Dues Withholding Program What is dues withholding?

It is a dues-payment method that gives NARFE members (retirees) the option of having their annual NARFE membership dues deducted from their annuities on a monthly basis.

How does it work?

One-twelfth of your total dues is automatically deducted from your monthly annuity. Your monthly deduction is determined by the following formula: (National dues ÷ 12) + (Chapter dues ÷ 12) = Total Monthly Deduction

Advantages • Save 15% off your annual membership dues!

• Sign up your spouse and double your savings!

• You’ll never get another dues reminder from us!

• Your monthly payment is affordable and convenient!

• You may cancel your dues withholding at any time!

Application process It takes 60-90 days to process your application. Once the process is complete, you will receive a special membership card distinguishing you as a NARFE dues-withholding member.

To learn more about dues withholding, call 800-627-3394.

Retirees, spouses of retirees and annuitant survivors are eligible for dues withholding.

NARFE Dues Withholding Application for Retirees n YES. I want to enroll in NARFE’s Dues Withholding Program (Annual dues of $34 plus Chapter dues of record to be withheld annually.)

Social Security Number (9-digit number)

–

Civil Service Annuity Number

–

C S

–

–

–

(Include prefix, CSA or CSF) (Include any applicable suffix)

n Mr. n Mrs. n Miss n Ms. Full Name _______________________________________

NARFE MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Street Address ___________________________________

NARFE Membership ID ____________________________________

Apt./Unit________________________________________

NARFE Chapter Number____________________________________

City _________________________ State _____ ZIP _____

n YES. I Also Authorize My (NARFE Member) Spouse’s Dues To Be

Phone (__________) ______________________________ Email ___________________________________________ Date of Birth _________ /_________ / ____________________ dd

mm

yyyy

Withheld From My Annuity. (Additional annual dues of $34 plus Chapter dues of record to be withheld annually.)

If YES, enter spouse’s information below.

Spouse’s Name ___________________________________________ Spouse’s Membership ID ___________________________________

AUTHORIZATION (Withholding will begin in 60-90 days). No payment should be forwarded with application.

I authorize the United States Office of Personnel Management to make appropriate deductions from my annuity payments, not to exceed the amount certified by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association as the amount of dues for which I am annually obligated, in accordance with elections I make below, and to pay the deducted sum to the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE). This authorization shall also apply to any and all dues changes certified by NARFE membership in accordance with elections I make below: Please allow 60-90 days for processing.

I understand that this authorization shall be valid until NARFE receives and processes my written notice of cancellation in accordance with its agreement with the Office of Personnel Management and that any disputes regarding this authorization shall be a matter between NARFE and myself. I hold the Office of Personnel Management harmless for any erroneous allotment deduction made pursuant to this authorization. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________

Signature of Annuitant or Survivor-Annuitant

Date

Dues payments and gifts or contributions to NARFE are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

MAIL THIS FORM TO: NARFE, ATTN: Member Records, 606 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314-1914 www.narfe.org 800-627-3394 rr@narfe.org Do not send money with this form

DW-2 (08/12)

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Doctor Recommended TV Ears has helped millions of people with hearing loss hear the television clearly without turning up the volume! With TV Ears wireless technology, you set your own headset volume and tone, while family members set the television volume to a pleasant level or mute the volume altogether. Imagine watching television with your family again and hearing every word clearly… as thousands of our customers have said, “TV Ears has changed our lives!”

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Ears” are so comfortable that Jack forgets he has Now with more power, angled foam ear tips, a Snapthem on! He can once again hear and understand Fit headset charging mechanism, improved tone the dialog.” adjustment, stronger bow arms, and improved - Darlene & Jack B., CA styling, the TV Ears 5.0 is our best system ever.

This is why TV Ears has earned the trust of Headset Weighs Only 2 oz. audiologists and doctors nationwide.

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TV Ears is a trademark of TV Ears, Inc. © 2013 TV Ears, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Member Perks

NARFE Member Perks

are designed to provide NARFE members with a quality option in their search for commonly used products and services.

NARFE makes no guarantee on any products and services listed, and encourages its members to shop and compare before making a decision on any financial matter.

Credit Union

NARFE Premier Federal Credit Union 800-328-1500 www.NARFEpremierfcu.org As a member of NARFE, you have the privilege of joining NARFE Premier Federal Credit Union, which has been serving members since 1935. We offer extensive services at competitive rates to members nationwide. Your savings are federally insured to at least $250,000 and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government. For more information, call the number above, email jparish@narfepremierfcu.org or visit the website.

insurance

NARFE Insurance Services 800-233-5764 www.narfeinsurance.com Designed and administered by Marsh U.S. Consumer, a service of Seabury & Smith, Inc., exclusively for NARFE members: Senior Whole Life, Term Life, Medicare Supplements, Hospital Income Plan, Short Term Recovery Insurance, Pet Insurance, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Cancer Care, Enhanced Dental Insurance and Long Term Care. Go to the website for more information on these programs.

GEICO 800-368-2734 NARFE members with good driving records may be eligible for quality automobile insurance from GEICO. Ask about the NARFE discount available to members in many states. Call to66

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day for your free, no-obligation rate quote. Be sure to mention that you’re a NARFE member!

• Discount amount varies in some states • Discount not available in all states or in all GEICO companies • One group discount applicable per policy.

Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program 800-LTC FEDS www.LTCFEDS.com Make long-term care insurance part of your retirement plan. With benefits designed specifically for the federal family, the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program offers a smart way to help protect savings and assets, and remain independent should you need long-term care services someday. Start planning for the future. Visit www.LTCFEDS.com today.

Vacation rentals

Government Employees Travel Opportunities® 877-867-3639 www.getravelop.com/narfe Offers government employees, retirees and their families 7-night stays for only $349 on accommodations at popular destinations worldwide.

Book online and save on your next vacation stay.

hotels

Choice Hotels International 800-258-2847 www.choicehotels.com With 6,000 hotels in the United States and throughout the world, Choice Hotels® offers something for everyone. Join the Choice Privileges® rewards program and earn points with every qualifying stay toward free nights, Airline Rewards, gift cards and more. As a NARFE member, receive 20% off your next stay at participating hotels when you use Special Rate ID 00801967. This offer is subject to availability and cannot be combined with any other offer. Advance reservations required.

Wyndham Hotel Group 877-670-7088 As a member of NARFE, you will receive up to 20% off the “Best Available Rate” at participating locations.

Call and give the agent your special discount ID number, 8000002694, at time of booking to receive discount.

Whether you are looking for an upscale hotel, an all-inclusive resort or something more cost-effective, we have the right hotel for you... and at the right price. So start saving now.

Call our special member-benefits hotline 877-670-7088 and reserve your room today at one of these fine hotels: Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®, Days Inn®, Ramada Worldwide®, Super 8®, Wingate By Wyndham®, Baymont Inns and Suites®, Hawthorn Suites® By Wyndham, Microtel Inns and Suites®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge® and Knights Inn®.

car rentals

National You Drive A Hard Bargain. Receive up to 20% off rentals at National Car Rental. To make a reservation call National Car Rental at 1-800-CAR-

RENT® and reference Contract ID 5282909.

Alamo Drive Happy® with Alamo® where NARFE members receive year-round discounts. Call 1-800-462-5266 and reference Contract ID 262544.

Avis The employees/owners of Avis offer guaranteed low rates and quality services to members of NARFE. Call 800-331-1441 and mention ID# A991900.

*State restrictions apply. Call or visit website for details.

Bekins Van Lines 800-248-4810 www. narfe@bekins.com All NARFE members will receive discounted pricing for all interstate shipments. Discount will apply to packing and moving services and valuation protection. All intrastate shipments, local moves and international moves will be competitive based on your geographical location. Please mention you are a NARFE member and ask for Traci.

emergency services

narfe merchandise

NARFE General Store 855-99NARFE (855-996-2733) www.narfegeneralstore.com Official NARFE name badges, customizable logo products and plaques.

MASA 800-423-3226 Medical Air Services Association has been the industry leader in prepaid emergency assistance services for more than 30 years. NARFE members have experienced MASA’s “peace of mind” services since 2001. Now NARFE members are entitled to even more: air ambulance transportation, helicopter transportation, ground ambulance, vehicle return, mortal remains transport, and much more!

Call MASA Today. It Could Save Your Life!

3. Atrial Fibrillation 4. Peripheral Arterial Disease.

You will receive a confidential written report within 21 days. Life Line Screening and NARFE encourage you to share these test results with your doctor. All four screenings cost just $135. To schedule an appointment, please call the number above and give the operator code number BKHN075 or visit the website. Coverage may vary and may not be available in all states.

education

Ivy Bridge College 877-615-9246 http://ivybridge.tiffin.edu/ narfe Want to earn your associate’s degree before you transfer to a four-year school? Ivy Bridge College offers a variety of degree programs that will help put you on the right track. No matter which program you choose, an education with Ivy Bridge will provide you with a solid foundation for a rewarding future. NARFE members and their families can enjoy an exclusive 5 percent savings on tuition at Ivy Bridge, a unique online institution that provides a highly supported pathway to a bachelor’s degree. To learn more, call or visit the website.

Moving services

NARFE Member HomeBenefits 800-666-9203 http://narfe. myhomebenefits.com • Earn thousands in cash-back rewards when you buy or sell a home* • Shop competitive mortgage rates, receive discounts on closing costs, plus take advantage of your VA Loan Benefits • Receive preferred pricing on interstate moving services with the nation’s most trusted moving company – Allied Van Lines!

health screening

Life Line Screening 800-324-9906 www.lifelinescreening.com/ NARFE

NOT A MEMBER?

Life Line Screening, America’s leading provider of community-based preventive health screenings, will conduct the following screenings using state-of-the-art ultrasound technology in your neighborhood:

TURN TO PAGE 63: Fill out the Membership Application and mail it to NARFE to receive all the perks of being a NARFE member.

1. Stroke/Carotid Artery 2. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

GO ONLINE: It’s easy to join online at www.narfe.org. Click “Join NARFE.”

Call (Toll-Free) 800-627-3394.

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67

The Way We Worked

Did you know?

The Senate Reporters of Debate, working in 10minute shifts, create a verbatim account of everything said on the Senate floor. Their notes are immediately transcribed, edited and provided to senators for minor corrections. The results are included in the next day’s “Congressional Record,” available in print and online.

the Senate’s Stenographers In this circa 1908 photo, the Senate Reporters of Debate are shown at work just off the U.S. Senate chamber in a room that is now part of the Republican Whip’s office. The round window is still there, and the man seated in front of it is Theodore Shuey, the chief reporter of debates. At that time, the reporters dictated their stenographic notes into Dictaphone machines (see one at bottom right). Since 1989, the reporters have used stenographic machines with computer chips.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Senate Historical Office; Heather Moore, photo historian, U.S. Senate; in collaboration with the Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG), bringing together government professionals, academics, consultants, students and citizens interested in understanding federal history work and the historical development of the federal government. Website: http://shfg.org/shfg/.

24

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Cell phone savings calculation based on industry leaders’ lowest monthly published fees (minutes may vary). Medical alert savings calculation based on PERS providers’ average monthly fees. All rate plans, services and applications require the purchase of a GreatCall phone and a one-time set-up fee of $35. Coverage and service are not available everywhere. Rate plans do not include government taxes or assessment surcharges and are subject to change. No roaming or long distance charges for domestic calls within the U.S. There are no additional fees to call GreatCall’s 24-hour U.S. Based Customer Service. However, for calls to an Operator in which a service is completed, minutes will be deducted from your monthly balance equal to the length of the call and any call connected by the Operator, plus an additional 5 minutes. 5Star service may not be available in remote or enclosed areas. You will not be able to make 5Star or 9-1-1 calls when cellular service is not available. 5Star service will be able to track an approximate location when your device is turned on, but we cannot guarantee an exact location. Jitterbug, 5Star, 5Star Urgent Response and GreatCall are registered trademarks of GreatCall, Inc. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. ©2013 Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC. ©2013 GreatCall, Inc. ©2013 by firstSTREET for Boomers and Beyond, Inc.

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