The voluntary period, applies to those already retired and who are not enrolled in Part B. Image: Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock.com
September 30 is the end of the “special enrollment period” in which Postal Service retirees eligible for Medicare Part B but not currently enrolled in it may elect that coverage without the standard penalty for enrolling more than three months beyond first eligibility, which typically is on turning age 65.
The period opened in April under terms of the 2022 Postal Service reform law ordering creation of the new Postal Service Health Benefits program, which will replace the FEHB program for postal employees and retirees starting in January.
The voluntary period, applies to those already retired and who are not enrolled in Part B, which covers physicians and related services. Traditionally, about a quarter of Medicare-eligible postal retirees have not enrolled in Part B, generally out of a view that they would be paying additional premiums for coverage already provided under the FEHB.
While Part B and the FEHB do largely cover the same costs, each covers some that the other doesn’t. The new PSHB is to largely mirror the FEHB—including, for example, the same family eligibility rules—although exact terms have not yet been announced.
Also among the features of the new program is a general requirement that those retiring from the USPS after this year must be enrolled in Part B to be eligible for coverage under the PSHB. That requirement also will not apply to current USPS employees who are age 64 or older by the end of this year, nor to retirees living overseas or who are receiving care through the VA or Indian Health Service.
Further information on the special enrollment period is here.
Meanwhile, the announcement of plans, coverage terms and premium rates in both the FEHB and the PSHB for 2025 is just ahead. That announcement commonly comes in late September or early October, with fuller information provided just ahead of the open season for enrolling or changing current enrollments, which this year will run November 11-December 9.
Both the OPM and the USPS have said they will be putting out extensive information on the PSHB, including procedures under the separate, centralized enrollment and record-keeping system in the new program.
OPM in March conditionally approved 32 carriers for the new program, well below the 158 plan choices currently in the FEHB. However, among the plans are offerings from carriers that make up the large majority of FEHB enrollees—of whom the postal population constitutes about a fifth—including seven national fee-for-service plans and HMO plans available in many major city areas.
OPM has said that where a current enrollee’s FEHB plan is not in the PSHB and the enrollee does not make a new election, an enrollment will be made by default in the lowest-cost nationwide PSHB plan option that is not a high deductible health plan and does not charge an association or membership fee. If a current FEHB enrollee’s plan does participate in the PSHB but does not offer the same option, the default enrollment will be in the option of that plan that is the most equivalent in terms of benefits and cost.
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