Benefits News 
Top News
- OMB reworking financial systems to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- Lew taps government retiree pension fund to avoid default
- OMB taps VanRoekel to lead management team
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- Hagel: Accountability breakdown was leading factor in sexual assaults
- Former IRS commissioner faces questions about Tea Party
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Army prioritizes access to data in fight over intelligence IT system
- DoD upends slow approval process for mobile devices
- Senior execs' bonuses under fire at agencies
- Gould moves the needle on many of VA's toughest challenges
- Tuesday federal headlines - May 21, 2013
Pay raise or retiree COLA: Timing is everything!
Worried about another pay freeze next year? Thinking about retiring to get a cost of living adjustment? Timing is everything, and for some people its already too late, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Feds have become 'easy pickings' for Congress, FMA says
Host Mike Causey will discuss federal pay and
benefits with Federal Times Senior Writer Stephen
Losey and Federal Managers Association Legislative
Director Jessica Klement.
February 29, 2012
Tax-free investment option — R U ready?
How would you like it if your Thrift Savings Plan withdrawals were tax-free? Well, get ready because the tax-free end-of-the-rainbow Roth option is coming to your optional retirement package, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Are you in the Buyout Zone?
The IRS is the latest agency to join the 2012 buyout parade. Employees in other agencies should study it because it may be the model for similar buyouts governmentwide, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Answers to your retirement questions
Co-hosts Bob Leins and John Elliott are joined by federal benefit expert David Redden.
February 27, 2012
IRS offers targeted buyouts to employees in enforcement divisions
The IRS has offered another, more targeted round of buyouts. The agency, however, plans to grant buyouts and early-outs to a limited number of employees — about 270 out of the 1,600 who are eligible, according to a staff email received by Federal News Radio. An IRS email said the targeted nature of the buyouts is different from previous offers and includes specific areas not covered before. The latest round of early-outs is the third set of offers in as many months.
Van Hollen: Protect feds' three-legged retirement stool
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told The Federal Drive with Tom Temin that he and lawmakers who represent federal employees want to maintain this system for federal employees.
Everybody's got a price: What's yours?
They say that everybody's got a price, so what's yours? What would it take for Uncle Sam to convince you to retire? Because you may be facing that decision soon, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Any good news in fed pay and benefits proposals?
Tammy Flanagan, the senior benefits director for the National Institute of Transition Planning, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss recent proposals affecting federal employees' pay and benefits.
Feds to curb improper payments to Medicare plans
The Obama administration says it's taking steps to fix a longstanding problem of improper payments to private health plans that serve 1 in 4 Medicare beneficiaries.
Your guide to the chamber of horrors
Thanks to the two-year pay freeze and two years of higher health premiums many federal workers today are taking home less money than they were in 2010, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. Some alert feds are also curious as to whether Congress has plans to extend their pay freeze until 2013, 2014 or maybe even until 2015.
Obama signs payroll tax cut extension into law
The administration estimates that for a worker earning 50,000 a year, the tax holiday means $80 a month in extra take-home pay. For better-paid employees, the bonus could total $2,200 a year.
Secrets of the TSP
Host Mike Causey will talk about the Thrift
Savings Plan with Tom Trabucco, director of
external affairs for Federal Retirment Thrift
Investment Board. Federal Times Reporters
Stephen Losey and Sean Reilly also join the show
to discuss how Congress is changing your federal
benefits package.
February 22, 2012
Prescription merger will deliver 'value' to government, company says
Mary Rosado, the vice president of federal government affairs at Express Scripts, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss a proposed merger between prescription managers.
The worst is (probably) yet to come
Congress hit future federal workers with a new higher pension tax. For current workers, there is no change but that could have been a warning shot across the bow, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Will prescription-manager merger lead to higher TRICARE costs?
John Coster, the senior vice president of government affairs at the National Community Pharmacists Association, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss how a merger between two pharmacy benefit managers could lead to higher TRICARE costs.
Congress targets federal workers for savings
Federal workers have become the go-to targets as Congress, and the White House, search for ways to lower the deficit, pay for tax cuts and put off looming reductions to defense spending.
Companies stick agencies with retirement bill
Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, says the government is paying for private employees' retirements has been a legitimate business expense for years under cost-accounting standards.
Life in the bullseye. So, what's next?
After 18 months of inactivity and extended vacation, Congress exhibited a blinding burst of speed last week before it left on yet another vacation. The bad news is that the action it took was aimed at future federal workers and you, well into your career, may be next, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Preparing for retirement
Career coach Mike Townshend talks retirement planning with host Bob Leins.
February 20, 2012
