Some postal annuitants may not be aware of a significant change from last year regarding their prescription drug coverage choices. Under the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) program, Medicare-eligible annuitants must retain their Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (MPDP) coverage, or lose prescription drug coverage under their PSHB plan altogether. This rule is different for the PSHB than the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program, and different than last year.
As a postal annuitant, you must now be enrolled in the PSHB instead of (FEHB) plans. All Medicare-eligible postal annuitants will be automatically enrolled in their PSHB plan’s MPDP coverage and given the option to opt out, similar to last year. BUT, unlike FEHB annuitants, PSHB annuitants cannot “default” back into their PSHB prescription drug coverage. PSHB annuitants can either keep their plan’s MPDP coverage OR opt out and therefore receive no prescription drug coverage from their PSHB plan. That means PSHB annuitants who opt out must find their own, external drug coverage to fill their prescription and avoid fees from a gap in credible coverage, but will still pay the same premiums as PSHB annuitants who did not opt out.
NARFE encourages all PSHB annuitants to examine their plan’s MPDP formulary, look at our PSHB FAQ page, and reach out to the Federal Benefits Institute at fedbenefits@narfe.org when making their Open Season decisions!
