How to plan for important changes
Life Events section of OPERS website can help you make the best choices
By Michael Pramik, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System
August 15, 2024 – While you’re working as an OPERS member, or after you retire, your life likely will change, and sometimes in significant ways. These developments can affect your retirement benefit, so you need to know how to respond.
We designed the Life Events section of the OPERS website to guide you through many of the decisions you might have to make during and after your public service career.
Live Events contains helpful links and tools you’ll need as an OPERS member. Here’s a look at some of the information within Life Events:
- Beneficiaries: A beneficiary is someone who will receive either a lump-sum refund or monthly benefits in the event of your death while you are still working. This section of the website helps you designate a beneficiary or make changes. You can do so through your OPERS online account. If you are already retired you made this selection at retirement and can only make adjustments in a few situations, which are listed on the website.
- Caregivers: You can grant OPERS permission for a caregiver to have access to your OPERS account information by completing the Authorization: Release of Account Information form. You’ll also need to complete a separate form to release protected health information.
- Marriage, remarriage, divorce, dissolution or annulment: The rules in place regarding one of these events can have a significant impact on your retirement benefits, especially if you’re already retired.
- Impact of seasonal employment: Your retirement plan might be impacted if you take on seasonal, part-time or intermittent employment. Read all about it in this flier.
- Turning 65 & Medicare basics: Life Events has information on Medicare benefits for when you reach that age.
- Returning to work: If you retire and want to become re-employed, check out this section for particulars about where your money goes and how health care works.
- Death of an OPERS member: This section is for caregivers and survivors, to let them know how to contact us and what will happen next.
Michael Pramik
Michael Pramik is communication strategist for the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and editor of the PERSpective blog. As an experienced business journalist, he clarifies complex pension policies and helps members make smart choices to secure their retirement.
I just received an email from my dentist that they are having extreme difficulty communicating with or obtaining a response from MetLife Dental regarding coverage for their patients, and will therefore be ending coverage for MetLife insured. I personally have also experienced difficulty with both MetLife’s on-line app/provider search, as well as their non-English speaking customer service agents. Please consider switching to a more customer service focused insurer for 2025.
I hope this post is addressed. I am trying to clarify the OPERS policy that requires Medicare retirees use Via Benefits for continued receipt of their HRA funds. I prepare for annual changes by looking at Medicare.gov to see plans available for my county. Specific to Medigap plans, Via benefits only offers 3 plans including the one I currently have but might wish to leave due to premium costs. The others are not what I need and/or are more expensive.
My questions is- if I tell Via Benefits the plan I want from Medicare.gov, are they able to get it for me or do I enroll myself and inform them of my choice and will I continue receiving HRA funding ? I have not seen much discussion of this policy and appreciate the information. Thanks
Don, One of the requirements in order to receive the Medicare HRA Deposits is you must be enrolled in a plan with Via Benefits. If you enroll in a plan outside of Via Benefits, you would not be eligible to receive the HRA Deposits. You will want to contact Via Benefits at 1-844-287-9945 for further assistance with plan enrollment. Thank you, OPERS