Whether you're a new employee, close to retirement, or somewhere in between, you may want to revise your benefits or enroll for the first time if your circumstances have changed. Benefits open seasons (see sidebar) and "qualifying life events" (e.g., marriage, divorce, birth of a child) give you additional opportunities to change your benefits package. The National Finance Center sends an excellent overview of your current benefits, entitled "Your Personal Benefits Statement," to your home each spring. This statement summarizes your benefits and what you are paying for them.

Federal benefits programs - a partial list Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Premium conversion to pay FEHB with pre-tax dollars Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Federal Long Term Care Insurance (FLTCI) Retirement plans (CSRS or FERS) Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Voluntary Retirement Contributions under CSRS

Federal Employees Health Benefits program
The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program provides medical coverage for you and eligible family members. After you select a health plan from a variety of fee-for-service and health maintenance organization plans, coverage can start as early as the next pay period. Healthcare coverage is provided without requiring participants to undergo a medical examination, and there are no restrictions in regard to pre-existing conditions. Benefits are not reduced for retirees, who pay no more than they did as employees. The government contributes about 70 percent of the cost of the insurance, while you pay the rest through payroll deductions.

New employees have 60 days to sign up for health insurance. Another opportunity to sign up for benefits occurs during the annual health benefits open season, which is held from mid-November to mid-December. Open season allows you to begin participating, change a plan or options, or cancel coverage. To do this, you use Employee Express (EE) (see sidebar). A qualifying life event (see sidebar) creates another opportunity to sign up or make changes until 60 days after that event. For more information, visit OPM's Web site at www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp.

Premium conversion and FEHB health insurance premiums
If you have FEHB withheld from your pay, you're enjoying the tax benefits of premium conversion. What premium conversion means is that the part of your salary that goes for health insurance premiums is non-taxable. Federal employees are automatically signed up for this benefit unless they have expressly waived it. For more information, visit the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/insure/health/pretaxfehb/pc_facts.htm.

Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI)
The government offers most of its employees and retirees the opportunity to participate in a group life insurance program. The basic level of coverage, which equals the employee's basic pay rounded up to the next $1,000 plus $2,000, is automatic unless waived. The government pays one third of the cost for basic coverage. As basic pay increases, coverage automatically increases. Under basic coverage, an extra benefit is provided to employees under age 45 at no additional cost. This benefit doubles the amount of insurance at age 35 or younger, and at age 36 begins to reduce 10 percent each year until age 45 when the extra benefit stops.

Employees can also elect to enroll in optional life insurance plans A, B, or C. Option A provides an additional $10,000 of insurance coverage. Option B allows you to choose additional insurance in multiples (up to 5) of your current salary (rounded to the next $1,000). Option C is the family option that provides units of $5,000 coverage on your spouse and $2,500 on each eligible child. Optional life insurance open seasons are held very infrequently, however, so the 31-day sign up window for new employees is very important. A qualifying life event opens another sign up window. Visit the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp for additional information.

Federal Long-Term Care Insurance (LTC)
Long-term care is a service that you may need if you can no longer perform the activities of daily living like eating, bathing or getting dressed by yourself. It also includes the kind of care needed for severe cognitive impairment like Alzheimer's disease. Participants can receive care in a variety of settings, including your own home, assisted living facilities, adult day care centers or hospice facilities. Long-term care can be covered completely or in part by long term care insurance.

The first open season for the LTC program closed December 31, 2002. LTC, like FEGLI, isn't available during an annual open season, but current employees, annuitants, and certain family members can still apply at any time if they have a full medical review. Most newly hired or rehired employees are eligible to apply for this benefit within 60 days of their appointment using an abbreviated underwriting application. An employee's marriage allows the new spouse to apply for LTC within 60 days by using the abbreviated application. After that time the, a full underwriting application is required. For more information about LTC, visit the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/.

Federal retirement
Federal employees have some of the best retirement plans in America-the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), which includes the CSRS Offset system, and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). New federal employees are automatically covered by FERS.

The basic annuity, which is the amount an employee receives in retirement, for CSRS employees is computed based on length of service. This includes unused sick leave if retiring on an immediate annuity and "high-3" pay average. Contributing to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is essential for FERS employees whose retirement plan consists of three key elements: (1) FERS annuity, (2) social security benefits, and, (3) TSP funds. TSP is also an attractive option for CSRS employees. Visit the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/retire for additional information.

The Thrift Savings Plan
The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a tax-deferred retirement savings plan comparable to private-sector 401(K) plans. There are five investment funds for TSP accounts. You may elect to invest any portion of your current account balance and/or future contribution in these funds.

Each year there are two TSP open seasons: April 15 through June 30 and October 15 through December 31. During these periods, you can start to contribute or change your contribution percentage or dollar amount. To conduct these transactions, you use Employee Express (see sidebar).

FERS employees may contribute up to 13 percent of their basic pay, subject to an annual limit imposed by the IRS. The government matches the contributions of FERS employees dollar for dollar for the first three percent of pay contributed, and 50 cents on the dollar for the next two percent of pay contributed. The government also provides an automatic one percent contribution whether or not FERS employees choose to contribute to the TSP. Participants are automatically vested in all contributions and earnings with the exception of the agency's automatic contribution (one percent), which vests in three years. CSRS/CSRS Offset employees may contribute up to eight percent of their basic income; however, there are no matching government contributions.

Voluntary Contributions for CSRS/CSRS Offset employees
A little known tax-deferred federal savings option called Voluntary Contributions (VC) is available to employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the CSRS Offset provisions. VC is not available to FERS employees. Eligible employees may open a VC account at any time. The intent of the program is to give eligible employees the ability to make voluntary contributions to purchase additional retirement annuity or to withdraw the accumulated funds to supplement retirement income. OPM indicates that most people withdraw their voluntary contributions in a one-time payment. If the interest due exceeds $200, VC account holders can roll the funds into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or other qualified retirement plan to defer income tax. For more information, visit the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/retire/html/faqs/faq10.html#voluntarycontributions.

Qualifying life events A change in your life situation such as marriage, birth of a child, adoption, etc., may allow you to change or sign up for benefits outside of an open season. Visit the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/wrkfam/LEindex.asp for more details. Benefits open seasons Health Insurance Mid-November to mid-December each year Life Insurance No regular open season Long Term Care Insurance No regular open season Thrift Savings Plan April 15 - June 30 and October 15 - December 31 Accessing benefits and pay information Employee Express National Finance Center Personal Page Thrift Saving Plan Visit www.employee express.gov Another option is to call 888.397.2551 or 478.757.3012 Visit www.nfc.usda.gov - under Application Launchpad, click My EPP (Employee Personal Page) Visit www.tsp.gov or call the TSP Thriftline at 504.255.8777 Employees receive an EE PIN from OPM - for a replacement call 478.757.3030, or visit the EE Web site and get it online If you are a first-time user, you will be prompted to request an NFC PIN, which will be mailed to your home in a few days To access your TSP account, you'll need your TSP PIN - if you need a replacement PIN, request one from the TSP Thriftline or their Web site Change your benefits and payroll information by using your EE PIN See the "details" of your Earnings and Leave Statement, 2002 W-2 form, Leave, FEHB, FEGLI, TSP, Retirement, etc. At any time, you can review account information, make fund allocations or interfund transfers, and change or replace your TSP PIN number. Use Employee Express to start or change contributions during an open season