When a severe illness or a cognitive injury forces a USPS letter carrier to stop working citing medical reasons, applying for FERS disability retirement becomes the next logical step in their lives. However, the Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA) has introduced an appalling new administrative trap for disabled or unwell federal workers starting in 2025. Under the new Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program, postal annuitants must enroll in Medicare Part B in order to maintain their federal health insurance. However, OPM’s automated systems as well as USPS HR workers are issuing disenrollment letters to unwell or disabled USPS workers, demanding that they must absorb the Medicare Part B tax.

However, the fact is that you’re only living on a reduced 40% FERS annuity means that should you absorb this new Medicare demand, you could be paying hundreds of dollars a month, or thousands of dollars yearly in Medicare premiums that are injurious to your financial health, and quite frankly, unnecessary. If OPM has threatened that your PSHB coverage will be cancelled if you do not submit to the Part B mandate, read on to find out how our best FERS disability retirement benefits attorneys can help with this, regardless of where you are in the country. 

Are you looking for the best FERS disability attorney to fight an OPM denial? Please call the experienced federal employee attorneys at McCready Law NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about how we can help you overturn medical rejections and secure your disability retirement benefits. The experienced injured federal worker attorneys at McCready Law bring to the table combined experience spanning over 90 years where we have helped federal employees and postal workers across the country navigate the Office of Personnel Management with speed, efficiency, and reliability. To date, we have recovered over $500 million for our clients, and our deep understanding of federal retirement statutes and appellate case law places us at a level that is unmatched in federal disability litigation. We have nationwide reach, handling cases on an agreed-upon, flat-fee basis, and your first consultation is 100% FREE. 

Regardless of where you live in the United States, McCready Law can assist with your FERS disability claim from start to finish, stepping between you and OPM to overturn unfair denials and force the release of your monthly annuity. Need to speak to someone regarding an OPM denial for lack of objective medical evidence? Call us NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about our legal services – our intake coordinator is standing by to route your call to one of our experienced attorneys.

Federal Disability Retirement – How to Crush the Medicare Part B Mandate

OPM adjudicators use automated algorithms that usually flag newly separated FERS disability recipients as standard “annuitants” which then leads to automatic disenrollment warnings if these applicants do not opt to choose Medicare Part B. At McCready Law, we do not allow OPM to illegally force you into this unnecessary premium trap. We employ certain statutory maneuvers as outlines in the Postal Service Reform Act to fight on your behalf. 

Here’s exactly how our best FERS disability retirement lawyers fight this:

1. Enforcing the “Employee” Reclassification via OWCP Status – it’s not uncommon for most FERS disability applicants to receive OWCP federal workers’ compensation benefits as their FERS annuity benefits lie in limbo. According to OPM regulations, if you’re receiving OWCP benefits but aren’t able to return to work, you’re legally considered an employee, and not an annuitant. What this means is that you are exempt from the Medicare Part B mandate, and your PSHB coverage must resume. 
2. Using Retroactive FERS Separation Dates – The PSRA forbids any postal annuitant that retired on or before January 1st, 2025. Because FERS disability determinations can often take over a year, there is a retroactive medical separation date that OPM systems fail to take into account. We therefore file administrative demands while citing your SF-50 separation date, and what this does is that it backdates your retirement status in order to lock in the grandfathered exemption, thereby skipping over the automated rejection.

FERS Disability Retirement Benefits Lawyers – Call Us Today!

If you’re an injured or unwell USPS worker unable to continue working but are worried about the Medicare Part B trap stopping your ability to receive your annuity, please give us a call NOW at (314) 481-63338 regardless of where you are. We will help draft a legal strategy to fight for your benefits so you do not have to pay anything out of pocket given your years of service to the USPS. Remember, we serve injured or unwell USPS last-mile and other federal workers countrywide, and the call is 100% FREE. Thanks for choosing us, and we look forward to helping you.