Benefits

Open Season and tax savings

Spending a few hours reviewing your options for 2024, may save you a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars next year.

  • Tammy Flanagan

TSP board OKs new international fund index, this time without China

A previous effort to move the I Fund to a broader benchmark index, which included investments in Chinese corporations, met opposition from the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers.

  • Erich Wagner

Flexible Spending Account contribution limits to increase in 2024

FSAs can be an essential way to save money on health care costs.

  • Kevin Moss

Veterans’ health care coverage expanded by the Biden administration

The VA will create new programs meant to make care more accessible.

  • Jacob Fischler, States Newsroom

An Open Season checklist for active federal employees

Tips for saving money on health care and to help guide you through the process of choosing a plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

  • Kevin Moss

Senate version of bill to standardize retiree COLAs emerges

The reintroduction of the Equal COLA Act by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., comes just weeks after the 2024 cost of living adjustment announcement revived complaints about how the government calculates annual increases across retirement systems.

  • Erich Wagner

VA attributes record-breaking year to massive increases in hiring

The department will now focus on retaining those employees through various incentives and process improvements, officials say.

  • Eric Katz

Medicare Part D is coming to an FEHB plan near you

The prescription drug benefit is being automatically added to many of the FEHB program options for the 2024 plan year.

  • Tammy Flanagan

State and USAID employees abroad face an increased demand and an inadequate supply of mental health resources

The pandemic, war in Ukraine, and a general rise in demand for psychiatric services are some of the reasons the congressional watchdog cited for the strain on mental health resources.

  • Nathan Abse

What federal annuitants need to know about Medicare Part D for 2024

This upcoming Open Season will be one of the most important in recent years for annuitants to evaluate their existing plan against those that offer Part D coverage.

  • Kevin Moss

TSP: SECURE 2.0 Act contribution limit changes coming in 2026

The federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program will use the entire two-year “transition period” to implement new rules governing how older workers can make catch-up contributions as they approach retirement.

  • Erich Wagner

Senate panel advances measures to overhaul federal workers’ death benefits, agency customer service

The money families of federal workers who die while on the job receive in gratuity and funerary benefits has not been updated since 1997.

  • Erich Wagner

Time for the fall deadlines

A checklist to help you prioritize as you sort through your federal retirement and insurance benefits.

  • Tammy Flanagan
Featured eBooks
Army Trends
CDM
VA Transformation

Bill would significantly raise the on-duty death benefit for fed workers

A bipartisan group of lawmakers want to increase the amount tenfold.

  • Nathan Abse

FEHB: Here’s what’s new for Open Season 2024

Expanded infertility coverage and increased premiums are among some of the changes federal employees can expect during Open Season this year.

  • Kevin Moss

Lawmakers revive bill to let ex-temps make catch-up retirement contributions

Currently, Federal Employees Retirement System employees who began their careers as temporary or seasonal workers must work longer to receive their full retirement benefits.

  • Erich Wagner

A closer look at 2024 Federal Employee Health Benefits premiums

Wondering how the increase might impact your FEHB plan choice? We’ll walk you through it.

  • Kevin Moss

Report reveals differing federal employee insurance withholding information between USDA, OPM 

An OIG audit found differences of federal employee withholding reporting between the two agencies, leading to several employees being charged incorrect life insurance amounts and another wrongly waived from coverage.

  • Carten Cordell

Federal payroll processor: Oct. 11 is deadline to avert feds’ getting incomplete paychecks

If Congress fails to restore funding to federal agencies, most federal workers will only receive a partial paycheck on Oct. 13.

  • Erich Wagner

Federal workers will pay 7.7% more towards health insurance premiums in 2024

Next year, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program will feature new coverage of anti-obesity medication, as well as expanded access to mental health, assistive reproductive technology and gender-affirming care.

  • Erich Wagner

Long term care insurance: Sharp hike in premiums for feds means enrollees face tough choices

Experts say although long term care is in the cards for most older Americans, an upcoming spike in LTC insurance premiums for feds who are enrolled is just part of a pattern that will remain unbroken until Congress and policymakers act on the neglected—but vital—broader issue of long term care and accompanying costs that will affect a majority of federal families. The program remains closed to new applicants.

  • Nathan Abse