"Short staffed and overworked as they have been during the pandemic, the retirement and insurance staff did a great job in seeing to my needs." Image: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
By: Reg JonesWhen I’m writing these articles I usually sound like I’m speaking from on high, quoting law and regulation rather than Biblical chapter and verse. It’s what writers do. They speak in the third person. However, this time I’m going to speak in the first person. I’m going to write about me and a very personal experience I had.
My precious wife Janie passed away on January 29. On February 9 I sent a certified letter to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Retirement Operations Center in Boyers Pennsylvania. It read in part:
Enclosed is the death certificate for my wife, Elsie Jane Jones. When I retired, I elected a full survivor annuity for her. Now that she has passed, please restore my annuity to what it would have been had I not elected that benefit.
My enrollment in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program will need to be changed from Self Plus One to Self Only.
Let me know if there is anything else I need to do.
On February 14, I received the return receipt with a hand stamped note: Rec’d OPM FEB 14 2022. I heard nothing further from OPM until I received a letter dated July 20 that said in part:
Dear Annuitant,
The annuity previously granted to you as a retired employee of the United States Government has been adjusted to eliminate the reduction for a survivor annuity.
By law, this adjustment is effective the first month following the death or divorce of your spouse. The adjustment changed your gross annuity from $X to $Y.
Since your payment should have been higher, you are due an additional amount of annuity to cover the difference between the old and new rates…. The additional annuity will be sent as a separate one-time only payment and should arrive in three to five business days.
Per your request we have also changed your health benefits from Family OR Self Plus One plan…There is a one-time refund of $Z in premiums which will be in your 08/01/2022 payment.
Two days later I received another letter from OPM confirming that my enrollment in the FEHB program had been changed from Self Plus One to Self Only, and that I was due a refund for the over-payment of premiums. That, too, would be included in my 08/01/2022 payment.
I haven’t written this article to gain sympathy for my loss but instead to let you know how OPM handles cases when a former government employee loses a spouse. While it would have been nice to receive an update between the stamped receipt and the concluding letters, I really appreciated the thoroughness of their efforts on my behalf and the final results. Short staffed and overworked as they have been during the pandemic, the retirement and insurance staff did a great job in seeing to my needs. Thanks, OPM.
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