Within the next couple of weeks, millions of federal workers, retirees and survivors will be making what could be the most important financial decision of the year. If not their life.

The decision has nothing to do with the mid-term elections. It’s more up close and personal than whether you stick with your current senator, governor or congressman/woman. This all about you, your family and your money. It’s about health insurance and the reason you buy it.

Many people think of health insurance as something to pay some or most of the hospital and doctor bills. But it’s real purpose, whether you know it or not, is you have your financial back should you or a family member suffers a catastrophic illness or injury.

Thanks to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, current and former feds, some ex-spouses and adult children have some of the best health choices in the country. The government pays about 72 percent of the total premium, nobody can be denied coverage because of age, health, lifestyle or preexisting conditions. That was true long before the Affordable Care Act became law.

Feds and retirees have dozens of choices ranging from low-premium health maintenance organizations to plans that provide national and worldwide coverage. The average premium for non-postal workers and retirees is going up 3.8 percent next year. Some more, some less.

Feds are looking at a pay raise of 1 percent next year (just like the January 2014 increase). The 2015 retiree cost of living adjustment will be announced Wednesday, but it is likely to be just over 1 percent and change.

When shopping for insurance this year (or any year) there are a number of key factors. Do you like the low-premiums, low co-payment and minimal paperwork of an HMO. Do you prefer to pick your doctors? Are prescription drugs a major concern? Do you want a plan with high premiums, thinking that guarantees it will be the Cadillac of coverage?

What about catastrophic coverage? For a family of four, there’s a one in 10 chance you will be hit with very high medical costs next year (exceeding $30,000 to $40,000). If so, how much will your plan cover? What’s the out-of-pocket limit to you? For a family of four, it can range from $7,000 to more than $15,000. Could you handle that, or would it cause major problems?

On Wednesday’s Your Turn, we’ll be talking about your health plan options with David Snell. He’s director of retirement benefits for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees. Before that he worked in OPM’s retirement operation.

Snell will talk about what you should be looking for in a health plan. If retired, do you need Medicare Part B? What’s the difference between Blue Cross-standard and Blue Cross-basic? Among the fee-for-service plans when is G.E.H.A the best deal. We’ll be talking about the open season from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. here on Federal News Radio. You can also listen at 1500 am in the D.C. area. Immediately following the show, we’ll begin a Web Chat. You write in questions and Dave, or I, will answer you. To sign up for our Web Chat, click here.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

By Michael O’Connell

Early comic strip artists needed a way to show that a character was sleeping, so they put “zzz” in their word balloons to represent the sound a sleeping person makes. The same construction with capital letters — “ZZZ” — generally means the person is snoring.

Source: KnowsWhy.com

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