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Hi, my name is Susan
MacLennan.
At the Directions: Pre-Retirement Planning Seminars
held throughout New York for executive branch state
employees, many of you told us that it would be helpful to have
a video from the seminar to review.
We understand there is a lot of information to consider when
planning your retirement, so we created this series of short
videos to help guide you.
Welcome to the Video Guide - Planning Your Successful
Retirement!
In this video, Paying for Your Benefits, Kevin Kreis, a
Department of Civil Service, Employee Benefits Division
representative, will fill you in on the cost for health insurance
coverage, your estimated Sick Leave Credit, Single Annuitant
versus Dual Annuitant Sick Leave Credit, and how you pay for your
coverage once you retire.
Remember, these videos only provide some highlights.
For additional information regarding the New York State
Health Insurance Program, please refer to Chapter 10 of the
online version of the Self-Help Guide to Pre-Retirement Planning
available at HYPERLINK "http://www.worklife.ny.gov"
www.worklife.ny.gov, which is the Work-Life Services website.
This video begins with a question from a New York State
employee.
What portion of the health insurance costs will I have to
pay as a retiree?
That is a good question and the answer is, as a retiree, you
will pay the same percentage of the health insurance premium as
when you were an active employee (depending on the status of
collective bargaining for your group).
As an active employee your health insurance is taken out of
your check in 26 bi-weekly pay periods.
As a retiree you pay 12 monthly premium payments.
If you have Sick Leave Credits when you retire, they can be
used to offset all or part of the cost of your health
insurance premium.
For most employees, a maximum of two hundred days of unused sick
leave is allowed to offset the cost of health insurance.
Two hundred days of sick leave translates into 1,500 hours of
sick leave for a seven and a half-hour employee and 1,600 for
an eight-hour employee.
To estimate your Sick Leave Credit, you would take the
number of hours of your unused sick leave and multiply it by
your hourly rate of pay (you can check with your payroll office
for this information).
This gives you the total dollar value of your unused sick leave.
You would then take the total dollar value of your unused sick
leave and divide it by your Life Expectancy in Months (which is
based on actuarial tables available in your General
Information Book and on our website).
This amount equals your Monthly Sick Leave Credit.
If you have a Monthly Sick Leave Credit of $225 and your NYSHIP
coverage costs $200 per month, your insurance at this point in
time is fully covered.
However, the value of your sick leave over the premium is not
banked for future use.
Please keep in mind that the cost of health care generally
goes up each year.
Therefore, in the future you may not have enough Sick Leave
Credit to cover the cost of your share of the premium.
In that case, we will charge you the difference.
The Sick Leave Credit is yours as long as you are enrolled in
NYSHIP.
Although the premiums change from year to year, the value of
your Sick Leave Credit never changes.
Ask your agency Health Benefits Administrator for assistance or
use the worksheet on the New York State Department of Civil
Service website to estimate your Monthly Sick Leave Credit.
When you retire, your Health Benefits Administrator will have
a form for you to fill out.
You can choose the Single Annuitant Option where 100
percent of your Sick Leave Credit will help to defer the
cost of your health insurance during your lifetime.
Or you can choose the Dual Annuitant Option where your Sick
Leave Credit is reduced by 30 percent and that Sick Leave
Credit will be available to your dependents to help defray the
cost of their health insurance if you predecease them.
For example, if you have a $100 Monthly Sick Leave Credit and
take a 30 percent reduction, you and your dependents will have a
$70 per month lifetime credit to use to offset the cost of health
insurance.
Choosing whether or not to elect this option does not affect your
dependent survivor's eligibility for coverage, it only affects
the cost of health insurance.
Please note, if you only have one dependent on your file and
you predecease that dependent, he or she would be eligible to
continue the coverage as a Dependent Survivor at the
individual premium rate.
You do not need to be enrolled in family coverage at the time
of retirement to choose the Dual Annuitant Sick Leave Option.
To take advantage of the Dual Annuitant Sick Leave Option, you
must submit a completed, signed election form before you leave
the payroll.
This is a one-time irrevocable decision.
You may not change your sick leave option if your
circumstances change.
For instance, if your dependent predeceases you, you cannot
revert back to the 100 percent option.
Likewise, if you do not choose the Dual Annuitant Sick Leave
Option when you retire because you have no eligible dependents,
and then later on marry or assume responsibility for a
dependent child, you may not change your election to the Dual
Annuitant Sick Leave Option.
Once you establish eligibility for coverage as a retiree, you
may retire with your benefits in place; or you can defer the
start of your benefits provided you have other coverage
available to you.
You may activate your benefits at a later date.
If you defer your coverage at the time you retire, the value
of your Sick Leave Credit will be higher when you reinstate
your benefits because you will be older and your life
expectancy will be shorter, allowing for the dollar value of
your sick leave to be spread out over fewer months than would
have been the case if you had not deferred your health
insurance.
You must prove that you have other health insurance coverage
by providing your Health Benefits Administrator with a
certificate of coverage (either your own coverage or under your
spouse).
If your spouse or domestic partner is covered under NYSHIP,
provide your Health Benefits Administrator with your spouse
or domestic partner's name and Social Security number so the
Health Benefits Administrator can verify your coverage under
your spouse or domestic partner's NYSHIP enrollment
file.
You must also make the decision to defer your coverage before
you leave the payroll.
After we receive the information from your Health Benefits
Administrator regarding your retirement and Sick Leave
Credit, you will receive a "Dear Retiree" letter outlining the
details of your health insurance benefit.
We will include the option or plan under which you are
enrolled, the type of coverage, either Individual or Family you
are enrolled with, and the cost of your coverage.
If you have a Monthly Sick Leave Credit, we will let you know
that as well.
We'll include other information such as how you will be billed
and what to do when you or a dependent becomes eligible for
Medicare coverage.
Your health insurance billing will default to pension
deduction, unless you ask us to do otherwise.
Although you may begin to receive a monthly check shortly
after you retire, health insurance deductions cannot be
taken from an estimated check.
It could take more than six months for the Retirement System
to allow us to take a deduction from your monthly pension check.
Until the Retirement System has finalized your monthly pension
amount, you will be billed directly by the Employee
Benefits Division.
If you do not owe a balance due to the fact that your Sick Leave
Credit pays for your premium, you will not be billed.
If you do owe a balance, please make sure you pay the bill until
your pension deduction begins, otherwise your insurance may be
cancelled for non-payment of premium.
We cannot take deductions from a TIAA-CREF annuity.
Therefore, we will bill TIAA-CREF members directly for
any premiums owed.
If you wish to be billed directly instead of through
pension deduction, you will have to send us a signed, written
request.
If pension deductions have already started, it may take a
month or more before we can change your billing from pension
deduction to direct billing.
Most enrollees find it more convenient for premiums to be
deducted from their pension checks.
That brings us to the end of this video segment.
For more details about the NYS Health Insurance Program, we
invite you to view the other health insurance videos and
visit the NYS Department of Civil Service website, then go
to the Retirees tab on the homepage.
Talk with your agency Health Benefits Administrator or call
to speak with a New York State Civil Service, Employee Benefits
Division representative.
To reach the Employee Benefits Division, call 518-457-5754 if
you are in the Albany area, or call 1-800-833-4344.
Remember, once you retire the Employee Benefits Division will
serve as your Health Benefits Administrator.
Thank you for your service to New York State and have a
wonderful retirement!