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United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Retirement and Insurance Service 

Benefits Administration Letter 

Number: 02-909 Date: November 27, 2002 

Subject: Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program: Important New 

Information on Leave Usage on November 29th and December 31st; 

More Information on the End of Open Season and Beyond 

This letter provides important new information on leave usage on November 29th and 

December 31st that may impact a Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) 

applicant’s effective date of coverage. We are also providing more information on the 

end of the Open Season, and what happens once we get beyond Open Season. 

Important New Information on Leave Usage on November 29th and December 31st

Previously, we stated that employees whose applications for long term care insurance had 

been approved were required to be "actively at work" (pay and duty status) for at least 

50% of their scheduled tour of duty on their last regular work day before the scheduled 

effective date of their coverage. This meant that coverage could be delayed for one 

month, or more, for employees with applications approved in November and December if 

they were on leave on November 29 or December 31, respectively. 

In view of heavy leave usage on November 29th and December 31st, and in keeping with 

our objectives of being employee-oriented and family friendly, we have relaxed this 

actively at work requirement. 

For this year only, coverage will not be delayed for employees in an approved leave 

status November 29th or December 31st as long as they return to being actively at 

work during the month when their coverage becomes effective and they pay their 

premium within established deadlines. 

“Approved leave status” applies to any approved leave, including annual leave, sick 

leave, leave without pay and administrative leave. 

Civil Service 

Retirement 

System 

Federal Employees’ 

Group Life 

Insurance Program 

Federal Employees 

Health Benefits 

Program 

Federal Employees 

Retirement 

System 

Federal Long 

Term Care 

 Insurance 

Program 
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Employees, as all applicants, still have an affirmative obligation to contact Long Term 

Care Partners if their health changes in a way that would affect their answers to one or 

more questions on their long term care insurance application on the effective date of their 

coverage. 

We made this change in response to employee and agency concerns about holiday leave 

usage toward the end of the Open Season, a period in which large numbers of employees 

have expressed interest in applying. We also recognize that this is the first FLTCIP Open 

Season. 

This family-friendly policy affects only employees and members of the uniformed 

services applying with the abbreviated underwriting application and will not be repeated 

in the future or apply to leave usage other than on November 29th and December 31st

. 

This revised policy demonstrates our commitment to responding to your comments and 

concerns about the FLTCIP. 

Here are some examples of how this policy works:

o An employee approved for coverage with a scheduled effective date of 

December 1, 2002, will still have his/her coverage effective on December 

1, even if he/she is on leave November 29th, as long as he/she returns to 

being actively at work sometime in December 2002. 

o An employee approved for coverage with a scheduled effective date of 

January 1, 2003, will still have his/her coverage effective on January 1, 

even if he/she is on leave December 31, as long as he/she returns to being 

actively at work sometime in January 2003.

This change only affects employees using the abbreviated underwriting application. 

This new policy does not affect spouses of employees since they do not have an actively 

at work requirement It also does not affect annuitants since they use the full 

underwriting application. 

Here are the links to the information we posted on our website late last week on the new 

policy concerning relaxed actively at work requirements for employees with scheduled 

effective dates of December 1, 2002, or January 1, 2003: 

 

The new policy: 

 http://www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/active02.htm 

 

FAQs on the new policy: 

 http://www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/faq/open_season.htm#actively 

Open Season Ending Date 

Open Season ends on December 31, 2002. This is the last date that current employees and 

their spouses can request an abbreviated underwriting application. This is also the last 

date they can apply on-line. Although we are not encouraging late applications, Long 

Term Care Partners (LTCP) will accept abbreviated underwriting applications sent by 
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mail, fax or overnight service that it receives by January 31, 2003. Keep in mind that 

these applications must be in hand at LTCP by January 31 in order to be accepted; this is 

not a postmarked-by date. Information on this deadline will be communicated to persons 

who order an Open Season Information and Application Kit in December. The capability 

to submit an on-line Open Season application will end at midnight, December 31, 2002. 

Website Banner 

Since Open Season is quickly coming to a close, we are trying to encourage employees to 

visit the LTCP website to learn more about the Program, download an application, or 

apply for coverage on-line. We are asking that you help by placing a banner on your 

Intranet or Internet site that will lead employees to the LTCP website. Your agency 

webmaster should have received an email from our insurance programs webmaster about 

this banner. Your webmaster can download the banner from 

http://www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/images/ltcfeds_banner.gif or

http://www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/images/ltcfeds_banner.zip and should link it to: 

http://www.ltcfeds.com/referrals/banner.html?source=2.

We would appreciate your help in facilitating the posting of this banner as soon as 

possible. If you have any questions about the placement of this banner, you may contact 

LTCP’s Brian Frankenfield at bfrankenfield@ltcpartners.com. 

What Changes After Open Season Ends? 

Three things change after Open Season ends: 

Current employees and their spouses who did not apply during Open Season must 

complete the full underwriting application for coverage. 

The July 1 “age freeze” will be lifted and premiums will be based on the 

applicant’s age at the time LTCP receives his/her application. 

The alternative insurance plan will not be offered to current employees and 

spouses who do not qualify for the standard insurance package. They will be 

offered the service package. The alternative insurance package will be offered 

only in conjunction with the abbreviated underwriting application, available only 

to new hires and newly eligible employees and their spouses. (See our FAQs on 

the alternative insurance package on our web site at 

www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/faq/benefits.htm#3.07.) 

Employees Returning to Pay Status after the Open Season 

An employee returning to pay status after the end of Open Season will have 60 days from 

his/her return to apply for coverage with abbreviated underwriting. This only applies if the 

employee has been in nonpay status in aggregate for over one-half of the Open Season. An 

employee who has been actively at work for at least half of the Open Season has already had 

ample opportunity to get information about the Program and to apply for coverage without 

the need for this special provision. The abbreviated underwriting application will ask the 

employee to furnish the date he or she returned to pay status in order to track the 60-day 

window. The application must be sent to LTCP, postmarked or submitted on-line within 60 
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days of their return to pay status to receive the benefit of abbreviated underwriting. LTCP 

may ask the employee to furnish proof of the return to pay status. 

New Hires and Newly Eligible Employees 

 

New employees, employees in newly eligible positions, employees returning after a break in 

service of 180 days or more (and who were not eligible to apply during Open Season), and 

their spouses can apply using the abbreviated application within 60 days of becoming 

eligible to apply. After those 60 days, they would have to use the full underwriting 

application. The abbreviated underwriting application will ask the employee or spouse to 

furnish the employee’s eligibility date in order to track the 60-day window. LTCP may ask 

the employee or spouse to furnish proof of the eligibility date. 

LTCP will send you new hire brochures for you to distribute during the new hire orientation 

process. The brochures give a short overview of the Program, and direct the employee to 

contact LTCP for further information or to receive an application. Account managers at 

LTCP are currently contacting individual Open Season Implementation Coordinators to 

provide information and to record additional agency information concerning agency 

contacts for new employee and retirement coordination. They will be making arrangements 

to deliver your brochures for all post-open season activity. 

You should also give this brochure to current employees who become newly eligible to 

apply for this Program. This includes temporary employees who have completed one year 

of current continuous employment, and employees who had switched from a position that 

did not convey eligibility for this Program and the FEHB Program to a position that conveys 

eligibility for these Programs. (In general, employees in positions that convey eligibility for 

the FEHB Program are eligible to apply for this Program. See BAL 02-907 for further 

discussion of eligibility.) This also includes members of the uniformed services who 

become eligible because they complete at least 30 days in an active duty status. 

Please remind these employees that they must take action to receive more information and 

an application on this Program, and that the application must be sent to LTCP, postmarked 

or submitted on-line within 60 days of their eligibility date to receive the benefit of 

abbreviated underwriting. Since they do have a brief window of opportunity, you should 

encourage them to request information from LTCP as quickly as possible and remind them 

that, unlike their other benefit offerings, the application is sent to LTCP, not the employing 

office. 

What if a new employee misses this 60-day period? 

The employing office may authorize a belated new employee application when an employee 

can show that he/she was unable, for causes beyond his/her control, to submit an application 

within the initial 60-day eligibility period. The employing office must make this 

determination within 6 months from the first day the employee became eligible. The 

employing office must make this authorization in writing so that the employee can submit 

that documentation with his/her application. 

We suggest the following wording for the authorization: 
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“(Employee’s name) became eligible for FLTCIP on (date). We have determined 

that (employee’s name) was unable to submit an abbreviated underwriting 

application during the 60-day eligibility period because (give specific reason why).” 

An employing office official should sign and date the authorization and give a copy to the 

employee. Retain a copy for your records in case LTC Partners has a question about the 

authorization. 

The employing office should use this authority sparingly, only in instances where the cause 

for not submitting an application was truly outside the employee’s control. An example is 

when you can positively verify that an employee was not made aware of the Program until 

after the initial eligibility period was over. 

Role of Implementation Coordinators after Open Season 

We have, with your help, successfully implemented the Federal Long Term Care Insurance 

Program. However, we will continue to need your support after the Open Season in several 

ways: 

Distributing new hire brochures and highlighting the limited availability of 

abbreviated underwriting during new hire orientation 

Advising current employees interested in the Program that they can still apply with 

full underwriting and directing them to the LTCP web site and toll-free number 

Providing information on FLTCIP to pre-retirees (LTCP will be providing more 

details on this shortly) 

Distributing occasional poster, flyer, and email reminders about the Program 

Thank You! 

Finally, we’d like to say a big “thank you” to all of you who have worked so diligently to 

make the first FLTCIP Open Season a big success! We’ve asked a lot of you and you 

have responded. We appreciate all that you have done to get the word out to your 

employees, from putting up posters, distributing flyers, sending email messages, hosting 

Program educational meetings, to showing the satellite broadcasts. We couldn’t have 

done it without you. 

 Frank D. Titus 

 Assistant Director 

 for Long Term Care