Free health care!

The Defense Department on Wednesday announced that Defense civilians who serve in the Reserves or National Guard won't have to pay for health insurance when they are called to active duty and serve in military operations such as those in Bosnia, Iraq and Kosovo. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the department would cover the employees' shares of Federal Employees Health Benefits Program premiums when they are called up for more than 30 days of active duty. Officials are working up specific procedures and expect the new benefit to be available by October. "This policy will help reduce the financial burden incurred by our Reserve and National Guard members when they are part of a call-up," Wolfowitz said in a statement. Defense officials hope other agencies will follow suit and offer to pay the full health insurance premiums of employees who serve in the Reserve and the National Guard. "DoD is setting the standard for all federal employers," Wolfowitz said. Hoping for Higher TSP Limits Most federal employees are cheering the upcoming increase in the percentage of pay they can contribute to their tax-deferred Thrift Savings Plan accounts. But for top managers and senior executives enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System, the change is no reason to cheer. The percentage limit for enrollees in the Federal Employees Retirement System will rise from 10 percent to 11 percent in May, while the limit for Civil Service Retirement System enrollees will rise from 5 percent to 6 percent. The limits will keep increasing each year until 2006, when percentage limits will be eliminated completely. Once the percentage limits are gone, the only limit on total annual TSP contributions will be the limit set in the Internal Revenue Code-- $10,500 this year. That limit is why executives in FERS have no reason to celebrate the eventual elimination of the percentage limit: All members of the Senior Executive Service and some GS-15 managers make more than $105,000, so the percentage limits won't affect them. But executives who want to put more money each year into their TSP accounts have some hope. On Wednesday, Reps. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, introduced a bill that would raise the Internal Revenue limit to $15,000 by 2005. Without that increase, the IRS, which adjusts the limit each year, would eventually raise the limit that far, but at a pace of $500 a year, it would take until 2010. The Cardin-Portman bill, called the Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act, would also increase the amount people could put in individual retirement accounts each year and make several other changes to encourage people to save more money for retirement. The House passed the bill last year, but it didn't make it through the Senate. Long-Term Care Office The Office of Personnel Management has created the Office of Long-Term Care Implementation to oversee the development of the new long-term care insurance program. Federal employees will be able to get discounted premiums for long-term care under the program. Frank D. Titus, formerly OPM's assistant director for insurance programs, will oversee the office. The long-term care insurance program should be up and running by October 2002.