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Open Enrollment · United We Scan

0:34
Hey, welcome to the United We Scan podcast.
0:36
Just a quick disclaimer here that any of the views and
0:39
opinions expressed by the individuals are not that of the
0:44
USPS or the NRLCA. This podcast is for
0:49
entertainment purposes only and if you are in need of any
0:53
assistance, please contact your designated union representative.
0:58
Thank you. Welcome back, everybody.
1:01
Episode 136, we're going to go over open enrollment, which
1:06
starts Monday, November 10th and goes through December 8th.
1:12
This is Take Two because we had some technical difficulties that
1:17
were discovered after recording on Sunday night.
1:21
So yeah, anyways, we're getting there done and getting it out to
1:26
you regardless. Sorry about the delay.
1:32
You know, stuff happens. It wouldn't be united, we scan
1:35
if there wasn't some technical difficulties here and there.
1:38
You know what happens? Technology.
1:41
Gotta love it and hate it. Ain't that the truth.
1:45
So yes, open a Roman November 10th through December 8th.
1:50
This is all that good insurance stuff.
1:54
So we're going to kind of cover it, go over it, how to do it if
1:57
you haven't signed up yet through OPM and all that good
2:02
stuff. And I know Meow has all that
2:06
ready to go for you, so you can take it.
2:08
Away dear. So like you guys both said, open
2:12
enrollment is November 10th through December 8th and
2:17
hopefully you got in the mail. This book says open season 2025.
2:24
Invest in you, your benefits, your choice.
2:28
Don't just throw that away. It's important.
2:31
And even if you're not switching any of your health and benefits
2:35
this year, it's still a good resource to keep for yourself so
2:40
that you, if you ever need to change your health insurance or
2:44
if you have a qualifying life event that it, it walks you
2:49
through the login stuff for, for the Postal Service health
2:53
benefit plans. So last year, well at the
2:58
beginning of this year, I should say, we, all of the postal
3:02
employees moved over to what's called the Postal Service Health
3:06
Benefits Program and they created like it's, we're in our
3:11
own little umbrella instead of the federal employees health
3:17
benefits. So if, if you're going to change
3:22
your health insurance, if thank you, if you want to, if you want
3:29
to just double check what you have, if you want to shop
3:33
around, this is a good resource for you.
3:38
And then also at the end of it, we'll go over qualifying life
3:41
event stuff. So you're going to want to go on
3:46
online to health-benefits.opm.gov and that
3:53
is your main source of where you will change your plans on.
3:59
And so under you'll Scroll down and there is a sign on there and
4:06
you'll have to create what's called a login.gov sign in.
4:10
And my recommendation is do that now so that you know you aren't
4:17
running out of time, that that's the time of us recording this.
4:21
Now it's four days until open enrollment and there's a check
4:27
like a time ticker like a days until open enrollment on the
4:31
main page of that website. So.
4:36
Get on there and. Set it up.
4:39
I would say you should have had that done last year.
4:42
It's just a matter of pulling out your passwords and login
4:45
credentials to get back in at this point and making sure you
4:48
can get in so next week when it's live, you're able to get in
4:52
there and do what you need to do and quick and easy.
4:56
And not be stressed out with that time constraint.
4:59
And then I would just figure out a way to kind of organize
5:02
yourself so that you have those logins so that it's not as big
5:06
of a hassle if you need to change anything or if you have
5:10
like a qualifying life event, like I said.
5:14
But you can also actually go on here too and compare plans
5:19
without signing into it. But regardless of that, just go
5:25
on to that website, bookmark it for future use.
5:29
And then you can actually, so there's if, if you are happy
5:35
with your health insurance that you currently have, you don't
5:39
need to do anything. It'll carry over into the next
5:42
year. But I'm somebody who has a lot
5:45
of anxiety and I like to double check to make sure that
5:49
everything's good. If you need to change like your,
5:56
Oh my goodness, your kids, your dependent dependents.
6:02
Yeah, all of that on there, you make sure all their information
6:06
is correct on there and and yeah, so, but you can go down
6:12
there and you can look up basic information for what you want to
6:18
do for like which plan you want to choose and.
6:24
I'm just messing. Around with it are you in
6:27
Medicare in part a no. So what you can do is you can
6:32
look and see like, OK, how much is this plan, this health
6:37
insurance plan going to cost me each pay period.
6:43
And I personally like, I mean, we're do we're talking about
6:47
this for more for rural carriers.
6:50
I have the postal carrier benefit plan and that's for like
6:55
if you're a union member, you can actually sign up for this.
6:59
But there's, I don't know, there's a whole bunch of
7:02
different plans and it kind of is dependent like on what works
7:07
for you. It's your own personal choice of
7:09
what you think that you want. I shouldn't say think because
7:14
it's already decided. I'd rather just go, hey, I'll
7:16
give you a dollar for my own insurance, but that's not the
7:18
case. Well, I wish it was.
7:21
I know, right? And and that's a real carrier
7:25
benefit plan, not postal input. Yeah.
7:28
Do you understand that? Yeah.
7:31
Carrier benefit plan rule. Carrier benefit plan.
7:34
Wow. I think all three of us, yeah, I
7:38
think all three of us have that. Am I correct, Josh?
7:41
Yes, you are correct I would say.
7:44
Carrier Benefit Plan is what it is called.
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To add to it, you know, I was saying in regards to picking a
7:51
plan or if you were just thinking about switching to a
7:54
different plan than the one you're currently on.
7:57
When I went regular and I got the Big Blue Book with all the
8:01
plans in it at that time, I sat down, I wrote a list of
8:05
questions out of all of my medical and prescription needs.
8:09
And I started going right down the list and calling the
8:12
providers and saying I am interested in this plan.
8:16
I want to know what the coverage is for this, this, this, this,
8:19
and this, and then made my decision from there.
8:22
And at the time, the rule carrier benefit plan was the
8:26
best option for me and my family's needs.
8:29
And in my, you know, I think it still is, but that's something
8:34
that you personally have to decide what's going to be in you
8:38
and your family's best interest. Yeah, and it worked out for me
8:41
when I went regular and decided to choose it just based off on
8:46
many people I knew they had carried it and going through
8:49
and, you know, looking at everything, I was like, yeah,
8:52
this is definitely the best option for me.
8:54
And it turned out to be the best option when Ruby said, hey mom,
8:58
guess what, I'm pregnant. Because it covered 100% of her
9:01
maternity costs. Even when she was having to go
9:04
in twice a week for six months. It pretty much covered
9:09
everything. It data cover everything.
9:12
I should say I had one out of network charge for a pathologist
9:15
and that was it. Everything else was covered
9:18
100%. So I mean, I was sold on keeping
9:21
this, but that's for sure. Plus it does have the 100%
9:24
cancer coverage as well. I was just going to say that.
9:28
$20 co-pays, $3535 co-pays for in network specialist visits,
9:35
but your primary care, it's $20.00 for that.
9:37
So and there's like massage therapy coverage.
9:42
But yeah, I mean, yeah. I mean it's.
9:46
Whole bunch of of good stuff on there.
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The other thing too is when you're pricing some of these
9:52
plans, you should also look to see if like if you need to
9:59
insure your spouse or your family, double check to see if
10:04
self plus one self plus. Family.
10:09
Or or and see which one's cheaper with the role carrier
10:13
benefit plan specifically, it is actually cheaper for you to be
10:17
self plus family, self and family.
10:20
So 'cause like, I think this, it's like $6 cheaper is what it,
10:25
it'll end up being. But yeah, just go on there and
10:29
kind of look to see what works best for you.
10:33
And like we had said, like the royal carrier benefit plans a
10:36
lot. It's it's done good for me too.
10:39
And, and yeah, there's that. The other thing that I was going
10:45
to kind of just briefly go over to is qualifying life events.
10:52
So let's say that you, you know, our mayor got married or
11:00
something else happened. I'll kind of go just quickly
11:03
over that. So if you've like acquired a new
11:06
family member, if you've had a child, if your spouse lost their
11:14
health insurance, they lost their their employment, like
11:18
another one would be you. What was it?
11:24
I'm on? Oh, not.
11:24
Your your child ages out. Yeah, they're they're 26 years
11:29
old, so there's different scenarios that could happen for
11:34
a qualifying life event. They have divorce, got married,
11:40
there's So what you'll do is the life cycle events is listing of
11:46
common events that may occur. So like, yeah, acquiring a new
11:49
family member and what will happen is you'll have to call
11:54
the HRSSC, the human resources phone number and their phone
11:59
number. Hold on, let me find it.
12:01
Postal, Sir, I have it. It's also the call in line 1/8.
12:05
774773273 and you'll choose option one and your qualifying
12:12
life events, marriage, divorce, death of a spouse or dependent
12:17
birth, adoption or a foster child.
12:19
Those are just some of the qualifying life events listed.
12:23
And when that happens also you, I know some people kind of get
12:29
panicky because they're like, I really need to go to the doctor,
12:32
My spouse needs to go to the doctor.
12:34
The Postal Service will backdate that coverage to the pay period
12:39
of the life change event. And I personally, like I had to
12:43
go through this. I hate that I know this, but my,
12:46
my child was born in week two of the pay period, but he had
12:51
health insurance for, I always think it's all like, well, you
12:54
have health insurance and once you have gone through, you have
13:00
looked through like pricing and figured out which plan you
13:03
wanted to change to during that life change event.
13:06
You Postal Service and typical post office fashion sometimes
13:11
takes a little bit to do that. So once you've gone through
13:15
selecting which plan that you're going to choose, just keep in
13:19
mind that it's going to take them a little bit to, to go
13:24
through that. HRSSC will walk you through it,
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but make sure that you're logging in and looking at your
13:30
your pay stub to see if the Postal Service is actually
13:34
taking out the correct health insurance.
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And then the moment that they do from the pay period of your life
13:42
change event, you're probably going to get, you're going to
13:45
owe a little bit of money or and possibly get a letter of demand
13:48
for that difference. So just don't be alarmed.
13:54
Just kind of be aware that that's what's going to happen
13:59
and then go from there. But HRSSC should help walk you
14:03
through a lot of that. And if if you are a sub like an
14:10
RCA and you're going PTF or if you're PTF going regular, those
14:17
are also kind of considered what kind of they are.
14:20
They're life change events, especially when you go RCA to
14:24
PTF or RCA to regular, you now are a part of the Postal Service
14:31
health benefit plan package. And so you'll have, you'll get
14:35
sent like a book in the mail and then HRSSC will let you sign up
14:40
for a health insurance plan. And from the event, from that
14:47
life change event, you have 30 days prior to the event and up
14:51
to 60, sorry, up to 60 days after it.
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So the sooner that you do it, the better so that you don't run
14:58
out of time. And if you've created your
15:01
login.gov, you won't have that issue of, of waiting or having
15:07
it, it being more inconvenienced by with time of, of, of the ease
15:14
of you being able to just log in and figure it out.
15:17
So just remember, you know, sooner the better so that you
15:21
don't run out of time. That's I've seen it happen more
15:25
so with PTFS that just never signed up.
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And hopefully a couple of them I've seen where we were close to
15:36
open enrollment. So they didn't have, they only
15:38
had to wait for like a month. But, but let's say you go PTF in
15:43
January, you never signed up, you're going to be waiting a
15:47
while. So just get on there, get on
15:51
that Postal Service health benefit.
15:52
It's again, it's health-benefits.opm.gov and set
15:58
up that stuff so. OK.
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Yeah, go ahead. Benefits.
16:04
So then the other thing is, oh, you want to go?
16:07
I'm going to. Say before we get into that,
16:12
when you're looking at these plant, the different plans like
16:16
the rule carrier benefit plan for example is specific to the
16:19
rule carriers and you must be a union member.
16:22
The mail handlers, the NALC and I think APWU each also have
16:28
their own craft specific. If you like that plan and it's
16:32
one that works for you, you will also have to join their union to
16:38
get that plan. So it's something else you want
16:41
to take a take into consideration.
16:44
If you are a non career employee, so if you are an RCA,
16:49
then the only thing that is available to you that is
16:53
employer contributed is the USPS Health benefit plan and that is
16:59
serviced by Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield and to sign up
17:04
for that. If you have not and you are
17:07
interested in doing it, that is done through light blue.
17:11
You can get your rate information on the myhr.usps.gov
17:17
pay benefits you. It's a whole big long thing
17:20
anyways. Otherwise you do enroll through
17:24
postal ease under light blue. So that is only for non career
17:31
status employees that is available with employer,
17:35
employer contribution. Otherwise, if you're looking at
17:38
the career ones and you are a non career and you want one of
17:41
those, you're going to be paying the full amount which could be
17:46
really pricey because you won't have any. 7 Seven $800 a check.
17:52
Yeah. So otherwise you have the one
17:57
option of the care first Blue Cross Blue Shield.
17:59
All right now on to the supplemental dental and vision
18:04
which is offered. You would sign up at
18:07
benefits.gov and this is available for both non career
18:11
and career employees. So Rcas, if you need vision or
18:18
dental insurance, then you can go to thebenefits.gov and sign
18:24
up there and then choose your plans.
18:26
It's the same rates whether your career or non career.
18:30
You've got several different ones to choose.
18:32
You don't have to do. You could do one or the other if
18:35
needed or both. You could do self, self plus
18:37
one, self plus family depending on what your needs are.
18:41
And there are several. And again, it's like a personal
18:44
preference on what's going to work best for you for those
18:46
coverages that you need. And you I would say they're not
18:51
overly expensive. I think for family coverage for
18:54
me vision, the vision plan is about $17.00 a check and the
18:59
dental is about $5560 a check. Yeah.
19:05
And I pay like $5 and change for just self under vision and like
19:11
42 and change for dental and that's self plus one.
19:15
So it's not. Too much.
19:17
Yeah, depends on which plan you get provider.
19:20
There are several different ones for both.
19:23
And again, it's just it's that personal preference of what's
19:27
going to work best for you and your family if needed.
19:31
But benefits.gov really simple and easy to get into and sign up
19:36
for, but that is where you are going to find your vision and
19:39
dental insurance. You can also go go ahead.
19:42
I'm like stuff on my stuff on my Facebook food.
19:45
You can also go to shop fed VIP plans right now and start
19:53
pricing them before open enrollment even happens.
19:57
But on the benefits.gov website right now, it is also counting
20:02
down for open enrollment again, if you.
20:07
Had that qualifying life of that.
20:09
You can also change things there.
20:11
They actually even have it where you can compare the the plans a
20:14
little bit easier than I think that the Postal Service health
20:19
benefit plan does. But I know there's some people
20:25
and I don't know why they think that their health insurance,
20:29
like their normal health insurance covers this.
20:31
And I think they do to like a certain degree but not to the
20:35
same not like actual vision or dental insurance fully does.
20:42
So you can meet probably like just double check with with each
20:47
of your plans. I know like my rule carrier one
20:50
paid for part of one of my root canals but it wasn't like the
20:55
full amount like my normal. Yeah, and some, some will cover
21:00
like a cleaning or something too.
21:02
So you really kind of got to pay attention to that.
21:04
So if you need other stuff or you got kids that need braces or
21:08
dental work or something of that nature where you need that extra
21:12
dental insurance, that's where you would find that would be
21:15
the-benefits.com. Benefeds BENEFED s.gov.
21:23
Yep, Yep, Yep. Trying to think of anything else
21:26
with that. No, but we got flex spending
21:29
accounts next. Oh Yep, yes we do.
21:32
Yes, we do. Because, you know, yeah,
21:35
there's. Been a bunch of people asking
21:37
about that online right now too. And there's several of us that
21:40
are not all that happy with Inspira as OK.
21:45
It's great to have because this is pre tax dollars.
21:48
It comes directly out of your check set aside when we switched
21:52
over to Inspira this last year when we switched over to the
21:56
postal health benefits. Yes, our FSA did change and you
22:05
do get a debit card, which is nice 'cause you can use it right
22:08
there on site. But I am going to recommend that
22:11
you save or look up under your insurance your explanation of
22:17
benefits for those appointments and your receipts because you
22:21
will more than likely have to submit those into them for
22:25
approval. Right now I'm fighting on a
22:28
dental charge of $104.00 and they want me to pay that back.
22:31
And I'm like, no, I shouldn't have to pay that back.
22:34
It it, it, it's, it's a mess. But it is nice to have as I will
22:40
kind of read this over a little bit.
22:42
I mean, this is all just kind of outlined in the booklet that we
22:44
got for open season, but it is you have the flexibility in how
22:49
you pay for your out of pocket expenses.
22:51
You can pay with your FSA debit card.
22:54
You can pay yourself back with funds from your FSA when you use
22:57
cash, check or personal credit card or you can pay your
23:00
provider directly from your account.
23:03
When you contribute to an FSA, the money is deducted from your
23:06
pay on a pre tax basis. This means your contribution
23:10
comes out of your paycheck before federal Social Security
23:14
and in some cases state taxes are deducted from your pay.
23:17
Generally federal taxes range from 15 to 28%.
23:21
Social Security taxes currently 7.65% of your pay.
23:25
So you could save about $0.30 on every dollar you spend on
23:28
eligible expenses. So the basics.
23:32
Your Inspira HCFSA lets you put pre tax money aside for eligible
23:38
health care expenses such as contact lenses, allergy and pain
23:42
relief medications, hearing aids, prescription eyeglasses.
23:47
And then you have an Inspira DCFSA also like to use pre tax
23:53
money for eligible expenses to care for your loved ones such as
23:57
daycare or in home care. So there is the choice of the
24:00
two. You fund your Inspira HCFSA by
24:05
simply setting your election amount each year during open
24:08
season. The contribution amount you
24:10
choose is deducted evenly out of each paycheck throughout the
24:13
year. And your HCFSA isn't just for
24:18
big medical expenses. It can.
24:21
It's also for the little things you might use everyday.
24:23
Eligible health care expenses include co-pays, Co insurance
24:27
deductibles, dental and vision expenses, prescriptions and over
24:32
the counter health care supplies with select retailers.
24:36
You maybe be surprised that some things like sunscreen, SPF 30
24:40
plus and contact solution are covered.
24:43
There is also a limited purpose flexibocal spending account.
24:47
It's similar to the Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, but
24:51
is specifically for dental and vision expenses.
24:56
And unlike the healthcare FSA, you can contribute to an LPFSA
25:02
while being enrolled in a high deductible health plan and
25:05
having an HSA at the same time. You can use the LPFSA for things
25:11
like prescription eyeglasses, contacts, dental visits, and
25:14
orthodontia. Orthodontic orthodontics.
25:19
Yeah. So when an eligible family
25:23
member needs care, you still have to work.
25:25
A dependent care account is a smart and convenient way to
25:28
save, pay and budget for dependent care related expenses.
25:31
Funds can be used for your dependents age 12 or younger, a
25:36
spouse or adult dependents incapable of self-care.
25:42
You would enroll for that under light blue.
25:46
Once you log into your light blue, you'll go to the employee
25:49
application and that's where you're going to find the FSA tab
25:54
and you're going to click on that.
25:56
Usually the last couple times I've been in there, it's red as
25:59
opposed to the rest of them being blue.
26:02
And you'll sign up after that. After you enroll, you get your
26:05
debit card, you're going to activate that.
26:07
You can get a debit card for another member of your family to
26:10
use. And it is important that you
26:12
save your receipts and explanation of benefits in cases
26:15
you need to validate a purchase. Trust me, it's important because
26:20
I'm, I'm fighting that fight. Keep your receipts.
26:24
Yeah, I know. I got to get Ruby to call the
26:27
dentist to get a copy of that receipt because the dates,
26:31
because she had to reschedule the appointment.
26:33
So the dates don't line up with the explanation of benefits.
26:37
Oh, no, Yeah. And that's why they refused it
26:41
under the explanation of benefits because it was a
26:44
rescheduled visit. So yeah, there is it's, you
26:49
know, you can file, play, pay yourself and file a claim to get
26:53
paid back. And also for 2025 there as a FSA
27:00
carryover limit of $660. This allows you to carry over
27:05
unused funds from your healthcare FSA into the next
27:09
plan year. In order to carry your funds,
27:11
you must enroll for the 2026 plan year.
27:14
And the carryover feature allows you to avoid forfeiting unused
27:18
funds. If you end up forfeiting unused
27:20
funds, guess what? The post office just gets to
27:23
keep it. They're giving money back to
27:25
them through that, right? I do like having it.
27:30
I mean, under the old system, under the federal law, one we
27:35
had prior to the Inspira, you know, I had to file, you know,
27:39
pay out of pocket, file the claims.
27:40
But you know, then got, I had all of rubies, those doctor's
27:44
appointments during her maternity, I mean at 55 miles
27:48
away to the doctor's office. I claimed the mileage.
27:51
It was great. I mean, I claim I did $1000 at
27:54
EUR Really glad I did. I still ended up with like $77
27:57
leftover, which kind of sucked, but it they did end up actually
28:01
carrying it over and applying it to our Inspira so.
28:06
Oh, it did. It did carry over to Inspira.
28:09
Yes. It didn't come in until like
28:12
August, but yeah, they did. They did take anything that was
28:16
not spent in it. They did put it into your
28:19
Inspire book, Yeah, Transferred it to.
28:21
Your Inspire account, originally they said it was if you didn't
28:25
use it, you were going to lose it.
28:26
Yep. And then they turned.
28:28
Around. After the fact and gave it back
28:31
to us, which is kind of nice. Yes, yeah.
28:33
Wow. Because I only did $500 this
28:36
year and I pretty much blew through that.
28:39
So between my eyeglasses and dental appointments and whatnot
28:44
for Ruby, yeah, I kind of, I went through that.
28:47
So, but yeah. So if you have anything left
28:51
from this year and you sign up for it next year, it will carry
28:55
over up to 660 dollars. Which is nice.
29:00
Yeah, it is I and A nice seeing that we covered that, covered
29:07
that Thrift savings plan. You can make changes at any
29:09
time. So you don't have to worry about
29:11
that under open enrollment. We already covered the non
29:15
career people. We just covered FSA annual leave
29:20
exchange which is new under our contract this year that just
29:26
went into effect to back in June, back dated to May of last
29:30
year when it expired. We do have the annual leave
29:33
exchange that does and there are the stipulations for that.
29:38
The new national agreement can be found now on the NRLCA
29:44
website. You it is available to download.
29:47
It just came out what, this week, last week, right?
29:51
It it's only been out shortly, hasn't been out that long.
29:55
So what was that? I said less than a total.
30:01
Yeah. So that kind of gives you the
30:03
guidelines on the annual leave exchange or being able to buy
30:07
back, you know, 40 hours. But there is other stipulations
30:12
for that that has to be done during open enrollment as well.
30:16
There are times so Postal Service health benefits program
30:23
as well as the benefits or the Fed VIP, the dental vision
30:28
program those you have until 11:59 PM Eastern Time December
30:36
8th to get those changes made. Now the non career, the USPS
30:43
health benefits as well as the flex spending accounts and
30:48
annual leave exchange. You have until 11:59 PM Central
30:54
time on December 8th to get those changes in.
30:58
So there's you know timelines for that as well.
31:01
So if you are not in the eastern or central time zones, for those
31:07
ones that the that matter, then you kind of have to do the math
31:10
in your head on how many hours difference it is to make sure
31:13
you get it in on time. And hopefully you won't wait
31:17
until that last day. Exactly.
31:20
Exactly. Get it done next week and that
31:22
way you don't have to worry about it after that.
31:24
Yeah, don't stress yourself out. Just a little bit as I'm looking
31:28
for this just kind of for the PSHB coverage.
31:35
The covered family members, your current spouse, children under
31:39
the age of 26 are eligible if they are your biological
31:43
children, legally adopted children, stepchildren, foster
31:48
for whom you are primary source of financial support and whom
31:52
you have a parent child relationship.
31:54
You cannot add a foster child without approval from the Human
31:57
Resources Shared Services Center, HRSSC.
32:03
Yeah, non eligible family members as your former spouse
32:08
once your divorce is finalized, your children upon turning age
32:11
26 and less determined to be incapable of self support, Your
32:16
parents grandchildren unless they meet the requirements to be
32:20
considered a foster child as determined by HRCC or if you
32:24
have, you know, like legal guardianship of them.
32:27
I know because I double checked into that when Ruby was pregnant
32:30
to see if I could cover little man and they said Nope, that's
32:33
an OPM thing. I was told that directly by the
32:38
real Care Benefit Plan ladies that were at mid states that
32:43
year that I talked to as well as our National Insurance person.
32:49
You must notify Human Resources shared services within 60 days
32:53
of a family member becoming ineligible again.
32:55
That's under qualifying life event so.
32:58
Woohoo. Yeah, there's also.
33:02
Just so you everyone knows it's for the medical it's children
33:07
are up to 26, revision and dental is 22.
33:11
Yes, 22 provision and dental for your kids.
33:15
I got three more years to keep Ruby on my dental.
33:17
OK, got it. So there's also, they're going
33:21
to have virtual benefit fairs through the post office.
33:26
Some of them have already passed.
33:28
But on Saturday, November 15th, there's going to be an open
33:32
Season One O 1 webinar from 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern Time.
33:37
On Thursday, November 20th from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern live
33:41
virtual day. On Wednesday, December 3rd,
33:44
they're going to have another live virtual day from 3:00 to
33:46
7:00 PM Eastern Time. And then the last day of open
33:50
enrollment, they're going to do a live question and answer
33:53
session with benefits specialist from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM and
33:57
3:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern Time. And you can go on to 2025 USPS
34:04
open seasonbenefits.vfairs.com to register, or you can use that
34:12
magazine and I think there's like AQR code for you to scan in
34:15
there and you can register. They'll text you.
34:18
I think they they still text me from last year so.
34:21
Yep, and you can if you want to get the text messages, the short
34:26
message service SMS if you text 39369 for the updates you'd like
34:32
to receive, whether it's PSHB benefits for updates on benefit
34:39
information. Retiree is for your annuitant
34:42
related information free career for updates on pre career free
34:46
career benefits That would be the non career like RCACCAS all
34:51
that type of. Arts.
34:53
Yeah. PS, ES and then seminar, you
34:58
could text that as well. For retirement seminars, if you
35:01
opt in, you may incur cost of using SMS texts if you don't
35:04
have unlimited which I think most of us do anymore.
35:08
Also don't forget when you for the benefits your vision dental
35:15
your when you sign up during open enrollment, your coverage
35:19
will be effective January 1st of 2026.
35:23
If you're doing it during qualifying life event coverage
35:26
will be effective the first day of the 1st pay period after the
35:29
date your enrollment was received.
35:31
That's a lot of their little extra information.
35:34
So yes, open enrollment that we're doing now is slated to
35:38
begin or is will begin. Yes, those changes will take it
35:42
effect January 1st. Woo.
35:45
Hoo, so get on and create your login stuff so you're not
35:49
stressed and you have it done. And if you need to make changes
35:53
and you don't remember your login, if you did it last year,
35:55
well, now is the time to get in and get everything fixed.
36:00
That way you're not rushing around after the fact.
36:03
And and just to state this again, if you don't need to
36:07
change anything, you don't need to do anything.
36:10
It's supposed to carry over. Yes.
36:14
And the only thing you would have to go in for is if you
36:19
wanted the FSA. If you had it last year and you
36:22
want it again this year, you do have to re enroll in that every
36:26
year. Yep, and decide how much you
36:29
want it for. Yes, and if it's something you
36:31
know, if you want a higher amount, like I said, they are
36:34
taken out. It's an even amount from every
36:37
check, not an even amount. It's the same amount from every
36:41
check. It's just whatever you want to
36:43
choose, whether it's $500, a thousand dollars, $2500, it's
36:48
divided equally across the 26 pay periods for the year, right?
36:53
But that money is available for you to use once that first it
36:58
comes out of that first paycheck, then you have.
37:01
So like last year I did $500 or for this year I did $500 and so
37:07
that $500 was available for me to use even though I don't pay
37:11
that full $500 and it's officially fully paid until pay
37:17
period 26. Well, I don't know if it's going
37:19
to be 26 or 27 payments that they take it.
37:23
And it's the last. Pay 27 yeah 27 checks in it so.
37:27
But yeah, it is, you know, it is divided up amongst all the pay
37:32
periods. So you're paying the same amount
37:34
each pay period. So you're not worrying about is
37:37
it going to be $10 this, this paycheck and 15 now it's the
37:40
same amount. It's that whole amount divided
37:44
by however many pay periods are that year.
37:46
Yes. Anything else guys?
37:49
I can't think of anything else. Not for open season.
37:53
There's one more thing I wanted to add at the end, but.
37:57
OK. I'll throw it out there.
38:00
Might as well because it's like I said this is like take 2-3
38:04
ish, you know, whatever. But I know so we're all just. 2
38:07
1/2. And this was not on the original
38:09
take. No, no, go ahead.
38:13
I'm going to start at the end. I, I just want to reiterate this
38:17
if you need help of any sort or if like your mental health not
38:23
doing good or you just need somebody else to vent to.
38:26
I know we're like approaching peak season and with daylight
38:31
savings and it getting dark. I just want to reiterate the,
38:35
the EAP program and if you need to talk to somebody, their phone
38:41
number is 800 EAP 4 number for you or it's 800-327-4968.
38:50
And they also do have a website, I think they even have like
38:55
different counseling and different stuff for, for you to
38:59
talk to if you need to, just cuz I know we're approaching that.
39:03
And I, I've been hearing not good things going on.
39:08
And I just want to make sure that everybody's OK and that
39:11
they know that we're there for you too.
39:14
And that we're all, we're all postal family and that we love
39:21
you. And so again, the number is
39:25
800-327-4968 and that's the EAP phone number.
39:31
Yes, definitely. That is a resource that is
39:34
available for all of us and if it's something you need, don't
39:37
hesitate to call. If I am correct, isn't it
39:41
something like the you can do it on the clock as well?
39:45
The very first appointment is on the clock.
39:48
I believe it's up to either four or six appointments are covered
39:55
and then they will get you in touch with someone in your area
40:02
if you need any more assistance and that is per occurrence.
40:09
So if you're feeling you're, you're not feeling the love
40:13
today and you call them and. You sit, you, you go through
40:17
that first appointment, everything, and then three days
40:21
later a family member gets really sick and you need someone
40:24
to reach out to when you call them.
40:25
That's two different occurrences.
40:27
That's two separate things That doesn't, they don't piggyback.
40:32
They are, they would stay at 2 separate incidences.
40:35
So you would still get those 4 to 6 covered visits.
40:40
And it and those benefits are also for anybody in your
40:44
household. So your your whole family.
40:47
And again, like it's, it's for any occurrence.
40:49
So it is an invaluable resource that we have.
40:57
And I just want people to know like there's people there for
41:01
you and reach out like it's, it's OK.
41:04
And I, I mean, I've, I've had supervisors tell me before
41:08
they've reached out to EAP like it's just what it's, it is what
41:11
it is. You know, I shouldn't say it is
41:13
what it is, but it's, it's life. And like everybody, you know,
41:19
deals with things differently. And sometimes just talking to
41:22
somebody who's an outside entity about the things going on in
41:26
your life, it might. It'll help you.
41:31
Definitely don't be afraid to reach out when you need to,
41:34
that's for sure. I mean, life throws curveballs
41:38
at us all the time, and we all handle them differently.
41:42
And sometimes some of us need more assistance in handling them
41:46
than others. Or there may be some of us that
41:48
can handle what life throws at us, but then life really throws
41:52
something at us and we might not be able to handle that.
41:54
And it's OK. And that's where it's time, you
41:57
know, to, to reach out when you need to.
42:00
Yeah, you know. And it's completely
42:02
confidential. It's not anybody who it's not
42:07
somebody in management. It's an outside entity that just
42:10
assists postal workers. Yes, I'm saying, well, we're on
42:15
those lines of thinking and say don't get overwhelmed, don't get
42:20
stressed. If you do take that step back,
42:24
take a deep breath and step back in and obviously call EAP if
42:28
that didn't work. Well, thank you guys.
42:32
I, you know, I'm going to give a huge shout out to these two this
42:36
week with me when, you know, we did our normal live recording on
42:40
Sunday and everything was good when we started.
42:43
And then when I went to edit and I was like, OK, pre show
42:47
listening and then all of a sudden I lost both of them on
42:50
the recording and all I heard was myself in large gaps of
42:54
silence. And I'm like, Oh no, I'm like,
42:57
you guys are going to kill me. And so we sat down to do it
43:02
again. I couldn't get anything working
43:04
and these two got on here with me yesterday and we.
43:09
For the last couple days. Yeah, the last couple days just
43:12
to troubleshoot what was going on with settings and software
43:17
and and I couldn't have done this without you guys.
43:20
And I just want to say thank you.
43:22
It meant the world to me that you guys took the time out of
43:25
your evenings yesterday to help me troubleshoot so we could
43:28
still put this out for you guys because this is what we're doing
43:31
and we're doing it for you. And even if it just helps 123 of
43:36
you, I mean that's. That's all that matters.
43:39
It is that is that is really that's all that matters because
43:42
I know some people have an easier time, you know, just
43:45
listen it to. Oh yeah, OK, now I understand
43:47
better than what this is trying to tell me.
43:49
And you know, that's really all we're trying to do is just just
43:54
help our our our fellow real care family.
43:58
That's that's all we want to do is just help.
44:01
So. And we want to say thank you,
44:04
Kristen, for all that you do because it's not just the couple
44:09
hours that were on Sunday nights.
44:13
You have you have to maintain all everything.
44:16
And then after we get, after we wrap up Sundays, now you have to
44:20
go in and edit it and then upload everything to all the
44:23
different platforms and make sure it's actually there and
44:27
working right. Yeah, the technology wasn't
44:29
being. We're being friendly, Yeah.
44:34
No. Oh, no.
44:37
And I appreciate you guys too. Thank you.
44:38
I I do. And on that note, guys, we will
44:42
be normal Sunday evening. Not sure what we're talking
44:45
about yet, but we'll figure it out by then.
44:48
I. Got technology willing?
44:50
Oh meows, got topics to go over OK.
44:53
Yep. Hey, you know a couple Awesome.
44:57
I'm sure I'll figure something out by then too.
44:59
Who knows, We'll just, we'll roll, we'll roll with it.
45:04
But on that, oh guys, stay safe. Weather's starting to change.
45:07
I know that dreaded 4 letter S word is on its way to my area
45:12
this weekend and you can. Keep it.
45:16
Yeah, thanks. And peak season is creeping up
45:21
upon us. I think we're kind of in that
45:23
calm before the storm, at least in my office right now.
45:26
So, yeah, yeah. So on that note, guys, take
45:30
care. We'll be back normal time next
45:33
week. And yeah, and then I will stay
45:36
safe for everybody and we'll talk to you next time.
45:40
Bye. Bye.