Pay & Benefits

Mixed reactions to Medicare Part D in the FEHB

It's been almost five months since Part D was incorporated into many Federal Employees Health Benefit plans. How is it being received?

Pay & Benefits

Health Savings Account contribution limits to rise in 2025

Federal employees looking for ways to save on out-of-pocket healthcare costs might benefit from using a high deductible health plan with an HSA.

Pay & Benefits

VA to review more previously awarded bonuses after improperly doling out $11M to execs

The department has used an “improper and overzealous application” of new authorities to give extra pay to certain employees, IG says.

Pay & Benefits

OPM’s retirement backlog continued a four-month downward trend in April

Though the Office of Personnel Management’s backlog of pending federal retirement claims fell again last month, the pace of progress has slowed.

Pay & Benefits

Essential things to know about your Social Security benefit: Part 2

Social Security, along with the FERS basic retirement benefit and the Thrift Savings Plan, can provide the financial security you will need during your life after retirement.  

Pay & Benefits

OPM tweaks its final rule for the postal health benefits plan

The federal HR agency posted its final rule for establishing the Postal Service Health Benefits program on Monday, clarifying language on Medicare Part B enrollment and other details.

Pay & Benefits

A CBO report raises new questions about Biden’s 2% pay raise plan

Analysis favored by conservatives shows that when comparing workers’ “total compensation,” the private sector has nearly caught up to the federal government’s pay and benefits package for employees.

Pay & Benefits

Essential things to know about your Social Security benefit: Part 1

It is important to keep up with Social Security changes that can have an impact on your current and future benefits.

Pay & Benefits

Most TSP funds took a tumble in April

After two months of sustained gains, only one portfolio in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program finished last month in the black.

Pay & Benefits

Are Consumer Driven Health Plans the right FEHB plan for you?

These are one of the lowest cost FEHB plan types for both active federal employees and annuitants.

Pay & Benefits

Exposed to Agent Orange at U.S. bases, veterans face cancer without VA compensation

Mounting evidence shows that as far back as the 1950s, in an effort to kill the ubiquitous poison oak and other weeds at Fort Ord, the military experimented with and sprayed the powerful herbicide combination known colloquially as Agent Orange.

Pay & Benefits

OPM reminds agencies of pay provisions in 2024 NDAA

The most recent iteration of the annual defense policy bill extends a number of temporary pay and benefits provisions for both civilian and military service members and allows veteran feds to credit active duty service toward paid parental leave requirements.

Pay & Benefits

Are High Deductible Health Plans the right FEHB plan for you?

For most federal employees, HDHPs will be the cheapest FEHB plan type. Here’s how they work.

Pay & Benefits

Congressional Dems urge OPM to fully cover IVF in feds’ insurance program

More than 175 Democratic lawmakers said the federal government must do more to protect access to health services like in-vitro fertilization in light of a recent Alabama court ruling that effectively banned the procedure alongside abortion services.

Pay & Benefits

OPM has new tools to fight improper health insurance enrollments

Watchdog agencies and Congress have previously chided the federal government’s HR agency for the lack of internal controls ensuring that family members of federal workers and retirees remain eligible for the federal workforce’s health insurance program.

Pay & Benefits

Justice Department outlines benefits rule for Havana syndrome victims 

A new interim final rule details how the department would compensate employees and dependents with qualifying brain injuries from anomalous health incidents.

Pay & Benefits

Postponing retirement problems: Part 1

It’s important to know the difference between a postponed retirement and a deferred retirement. 

Pay & Benefits

Estate planning for federal employees: Maximize benefits and minimize taxes

Make sure to review and update your estate plan regularly to reflect changes in your financial situation and personal circumstances.

Pay & Benefits

VA is trimming its PACT Act claims backlog, but enrollees may be on the ‘low side’

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough says that the department is quickly processing new claims made by veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service, thanks, in part, to robust hiring, but warns that those claims may not have hit their peak yet.