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| AFSA |
RETIREE NEWSLETTER |
September 2006 Volume 20 Issue 4 |
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Copyright © 2002 AFSA, American Foreign Service Association, 2101 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20037 Web: www.afsa.org E-mail: member@afsa.org Phone: (800) 704-2372 |
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AFSA will offer retiree members online access to the Consumer Checkbook Guide to Health Plans for Federal
Employees. The Guide, which will be available on this AFSA Web site in November, will include information
about the new dental and vision plans. Retirees who are not online may request printed materials from our
retiree coordinator.
FEHBP: Don’t Mess With A Good Thing Federal employees and retirees are fortunate to have the gold standard in health coverage. FEHBP works pretty well for everyone — employees, retirees, family members and surviving spouses — regardless of age, state of health or income.Now, however, there is a legislative proposal that could erode the comprehensive coverage we now enjoy. H.R. 5826, introduced by Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-MN) would allow Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS) to offer a Health Savings Account (HSA) option. An HSA option couples a high-deductible health plan with a health savings account and can be of benefit to some individuals. Contributions to the account are tax deductible, earnings accumulate tax free and withdrawals for medical expenses are tax free. Under employer-based or comprehensive health coverage, such as the FEHBP, people of varying health conditions are combined into a single insurance pool. This means that less healthy or older people can obtain insurance at an affordable price, rather than having to seek insurance in the open market where it could be too expensive or simply unavailable. Based on early experience with small HSA options, HSA enrollees tend to be male, younger, healthier and better educated than other FEHBP enrollees, and they are more likely to enroll in plans as individuals. If BC/BS — which is the only carrier to provide government-wide coverage, as well as the largest FEHBP carrier — were to offer this option, there is a real prospect that it would attract individuals with the above profile in significant numbers. As a result, comprehensive plans would be left with fewer healthy enrollees and, at the same time, with greater demand for health services. This could lead to higher premiums and more restrictive services, and a reduction in the number of enrollees who can afford higher premiums and the number of comprehensive health plans in the program. In sum, the introduction of a BC/BS HSA option could jeopardize the FEHBP program we have today. The affordable, quality health care that FEHBP provides to federal employees and retirees and their families is an essential federal benefit. Why mess with a good thing? We will keep you advised about when to write to your congressional representatives. In mid summer AFSA found out about the existence of a draft bill that would change the administration of the Foreign Service Retirement Fund. The proposal, apparently jointly-developed by the Departments of State and Treasury, was then under evaluation at the Office of Management and Budget. AFSA and others began making inquiries, and OMB decided not to go forward with the proposal. The draft bill would have transferred statutory responsibility for certain actuarial functions from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Secretary of State. More problematic, the bill would have permitted the Secretary of State to use monies from the Fund “as may be necessary” to cover the costs of ongoing retirement operations and to make needed improvements to maintain and improve the department’s management capabilities, such as automated systems. This proposed level of administrative spending discretion could not be considered an inconsequential change. The department now absorbs the administrative costs of the Fund. These costs, including salary costs, are paid with appropriated funds from the Diplomatic and Consular and Inspector General accounts. And, the Secretary of State may expend no more than $5,000 a year from the Fund for incidental administrative expenses (22 U.S.C. Section 4058). The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the Civil Service Retirement Fund, is also subject to spending limitations on administrative costs for that Fund. It is permitted to use Civil Service Fund assets, subject to an annual limitation prescribed by Congress (5 U.S.C. 8348), and must seek separate appropriations for new automated systems and system improvements. Our concerns about the way this bill was developed are twofold. First, the process was not a transparent one with all the critical interested parties at the table. And, second, the proposal raises questions, as yet unanswered, about appropriate protection and use of Foreign Service Retirement Fund assets. Critically, AFSA was neither informed nor consulted about the proposed changes in the administration of the Foreign Service Retirement Fund, despite the fact that it represents the interests of 28,000 active duty and retired employees who pay into or receive annuity payments from the Fund. AFSA’s participation in any effort to change our retirement system is essential to assure that the interests of employees and retirees are well represented and the process is transparent and accountable. AFSA is always willing to consider appropriate and well defined modifications of existing law. The Foreign Service Retirees Investment Club, which meets once a month in McLean, VA, has a few openings available. Anyone interested can telephone Louise Crane at (301) 942-2692, Janice Bay at (703)536-3375, or Joe Kemper at (703) 370-0210. Avid stamp collector and AFSA Member Ken Kurze informs us that we can buy sheets of the commemorative "Distinguished American Diplomats" stamps by telephone from the U.S. Postal Service's "Stamp Fulfillment Services" for a fee of $1.00. Call 1 (800) 782-6724 and have a credit card ready. The order number for the sheets, which cost $2.34 each, is 567840. AFSA is sad to loose two valued colleagues, Retiree Recruitment and Communications Coordinator Norma Reyes and Director of Legislative Affairs Ken Nakamura. Both have worked long and hard on behalf of retirees. Norma Reyes has been at AFSA for a year, during which time she energized retiree recruitment and retiree use of annuity deductions. She uses the annuity deduction herself, so will continue to be part of the AFSA family when she leaves her job in mid-September. Norma will be taking periodic English Language Officer assignments for the Office of Language Services, baking special-occasion cakes and, generally, avoiding retirement. Ken Nakamura has been with AFSA for eleven years, during which time he has been instrumental in establishing good relations with Capitol Hill, where AFSA’s views routinely are asked for and taken seriously. He can take particular pride in a number of legislative achievements, including amendment of the Virginia Constitution to give Foreign Service employees abroad the right to vote in federal and state elections, capital gains relief in the sale of a principle residence for employees serving abroad, and in smaller legislative changes that made life better for Foreign Service employees. He was also successful in focusing the attention of the department on the need for appropriate levels of funding for embassy security and soft targets abroad. Ken will be going to the Congressional Research Service, where he will be a foreign affairs analyst. In leaving Ken says that AFSA has been a great place to work: "Everyone – the board and colleagues - has been supportive and the work has been rewarding and enjoyable". On a personal note, both Norma and Ken have been wonderful colleagues, generous with their wisdom, humor, time and talents. Bonnie Brown Great social gatherings might be happening in your part of the country. The 21 Foreign Affairs Retiree Associations that exist nationwide are a great place to reconnect with friends or make new ones. Some also keep you current on important foreign affairs issues by hosting speakers at the luncheons. These groups are independent of AFSA, but we work closely with them in announcing luncheon meetings and providing speakers from the AFSA Speakers Program. For a list of the groups nearest you, check pages 184-187 in the AFSA Directory of Retired Members or log on to www.afsa.org/retiree/retassoc. AFSA is updating information for the 2007 Directory of Retired Members. Please send us your updates by October 13. Mail, fax or e-mail them to: AFSA 2007 Directory, 2101 E Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, FAX: (202) 338-6820, member@afsa.org. During the past year AFSA has asked the department to make changes in two retiree procedures. We are happy to announce that it has agreed to both. Retiree Access to the Department Retirees will soon be able to escort their spouses and dependent children in the department in those areas in which retirees can now move unescorted. These areas include the basement and first two floors of the department. AFSA will advise retirees when the procedures are finalized. Ask RNet Ask RNet will soon be available to retirees on the Internet, rather than just to active duty employees on the intranet. In preparation for this larger office the department is asking for questions typically asked by annuitants. Please send any suggestions for questions you have to brown@afsa.org. HR/RET Tracking System for Requests for Service In our last newsletter, we described the Retirement Office’s new workload management system. As explained before, all requests for service will be logged into the RET Workload Distribution and Tracking System. After receiving a request for service, the Retirement Office will then e-mail the retiree a tracking number, a delivery time frame and the name of his or her assigned counselor. Some retirees have tried to find out the status of their requests by using the tracking reference number, but have found that they are unable to open the response. This is because the tracking reference response can only be opened on the intranet. At present there is no plan to make responses available through the Internet. The Court of Federal Claims recently approved a class-action settlement that provides that employees who retired, died or were separated between 1993 and 1997 and who received a lump-sum payment for their unused annual leave, may be entitled to additional compensation for this leave. The Settlement Administrator will attempt to mail claim forms to all eligible retirees (those identified by the Office of Personnel Management) by late September. The claim forms will contain full instructions for completing the claims and returning them to the administrator. Bonnie Brown, Retiree Counseling and Legislative Coordinator, is available Monday through Wednesday at (202) 944-5509 or 1 (800) 704-2372, ext.509, or at brown@afsa.org. |
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Copyright © 2002 AFSA, American Foreign Service Association, 2101 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20037 1-800-704-AFSA (within the US) or 202-338-4045 Fax: 202-338-6820 e-mail: member@afsa.org |