United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter 

Number: 03-901 Date: November 10, 2003 

Subject: Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program: Payroll/Annuity Deduction 

Information 

This letter provides information from Long Term Care Partners, the Federal Long Term Care 

Insurance Program (FLTCIP) administrator, regarding the payroll and annuity deduction of 

premiums for the FLTCIP. 

Long Term Care Partners technical contact information 

There have been several staffing changes since agency payroll offices and retirement systems 

initially set up payroll/annuity interface with Long Term Care Partners. If you have any 

technical questions about the payroll/annuity deduction process, please contact one of the 

persons listed below. 

Long Term 

Care Partners 

Contact Name 

Phone Number Email Address Title 

Maggie Nelson 603-433-3832 mnelson@ltcpartners.com Business Analyst 

Bill Kumpel 603-433-4548 bkumpel@ltcpartners.com Business Analyst 

Keith Leader 603-433-4550 kleader@ltcpartners.com Manager, Billing and Analysis

You should also contact one of these persons when: 

• Your payroll location migrates under the e-Payroll initiative. Please provide Long Term

Care Partners with 10 weeks notice before your migration date. 

• You have data transmission issues or changes. 

• You have mass transfers of employees, such as to the Department of Homeland Security. 

 Please contact Long Term Care Partners 10 weeks before any mass transfers so they can 

work with you and the gaining payroll office to ensure a smooth transition. 
Reversing deductions on the payment file 

Over the last several months Long Term Care Partners erroneously received negative amounts on 

the payment file from several locations for FLTCIP enrollees set up for payroll deduction. The 

negative transactions are generated when an agency reverses a FLTCIP deduction and credits the 

enrollee. 

In no instance should you report a negative amount on your payment file. All premium refunds 

and adjustments are handled by Long Term Care Partners and are sent directly to the enrollee. 

If you have any questions, please contact Keith Leader at Long Term Care Partners at (603) 433-

4550. 

When employees have questions about their deductions or premiums 

Long Term Care Partners has dedicated staff available during convenient hours to answer 

questions employees may have about their deductions or premiums. If your employees come to 

you with such questions, please direct them to Long Term Care Partners at 1-800-LTC-FEDS (1-

800-582-3337) (TTY 1-800-843-3557). They are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 

p.m., Eastern Time. 

When employees transfer or retire 

It is important that employees on payroll deduction contact Long Term Care Partners when they 

are about to retire or transfer agencies so that Long Term Care Partners can begin requesting 

deductions from the new payroll/annuity location. (When there is a mass transfer that the 

servicing payroll location has communicated to Long Term Care Partners, individual employees 

do not need to report the transfer.) Deductions do not automatically transfer to the gaining 

agency/retirement system as they do with Federal Employees’ Health Benefits (FEHB) and 

Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) premiums. 

Employees should contact Long Term Care Partners as soon as they know the specifics of when 

and where they will be transferring. Depending on when the employee contacts Long Term Care 

Partners, Long Term Care Partners may not be able to get a payroll deduction changed over in 

time for the first paycheck at the new location. If that’s the case, the employee will 

automatically receive a direct bill from Long Term Care Partners for the premiums due that were 

not collected through payroll deduction. 

Premiums for FLTCIP coverage cannot be deducted from the annuities of employees retiring 

under CSRS or FERS while they are receiving interim payments (sometimes called “special 

pay”). This means that until OPM finalizes their annuities, Long Term Care Partners must bill 

them directly for the premiums due. 

It is important that employees promptly pay direct bill(s) they receive to keep their FLTCIP 

coverage current. 

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We have included this information in the Frequently Asked Questions and Featured Questions 

sections of our web site at www.opm.gov/insure/ltc. 

We do not expect agencies to counsel employees on their FLTCIP deductions, but we do ask that 

you respond to employees’ questions on these concerns by directing them to call Long Term

Care Partners. 

Secure email system 

On May 15th, 2003, Long Term Care Partners implemented a secure email system to ensure the 

security and privacy of the personal and health information of FLTCIP applicants and enrollees 

and its business associates, including Federal agencies. Highlights of the new system are as 

follows: 

• This secure solution for the exchange of email satisfies requirements defined by the 

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and complies with new 

Federal privacy standards. 

• It does not impact existing business processes. 

• It provides a customer interface that is secure and easy to use for electronic mail 

containing protected health information. 

• The use of the interface does not require training on the part of customers or business 

associates. 

• It uses “Tumbleweed” technology. 

Any outbound mail from Long Term Care Partners containing protected health information or 

personal information, such as a social security number, which correlates to an individual is 

automatically routed through the secure email server. Intended recipients of the emails will 

receive an email message in their existing Inbox that will contain a hyperlink directing them to 

the secure email server. After they click on the hyperlink, recipients read information telling 

them how to retrieve their email. The retrieval takes place in a secure encrypted environment. 

In the event intended recipients have difficulty retrieving their secure email message, they can 

follow the instructions in the email to contact Long Term Care Partners at 

webmaster@ltcpartners.com or at 1-800- LTC-FEDS (1-800-582-3337) (TTY 1-800-843-3557). 

Thank you for your cooperation as we continue to refine the payroll/annuity deduction process 

for the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program. 

 

 Frank D. Titus

 Assistant Director

 for Insurance Services 

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