Name:   MartiniMan - Subject:   FERS provides disability insurance Date:   1/21/2019 10:22:41 AM

Hound, this may have changed since you retired but FERS does provide short- and long-term disability insurance.  It is employer paid so the payments are taxed, which is not so great. Here is a description of the benefit under FERS.  It's similar to private disability insurance but since the benefits are employer paid Federal employees would be wise to also get personal disability insurance as well.  The premium is usually pretty reasonable.  Between the two programs you would have very good coverage at a low cost.

ERS disability benefits are computed in different ways depending on your age and your number of completed years of service. Once you have qualified for benefits, they are computed as follows.

• Benefits for the first 12 months of disability: You are eligible for 60% of your high-3 average salary minus 100% of your Social security benefit for any month in which you are entitled to Social Security benefits (obviously not an issue for younger employees).
• Benefits after the first 12 months of disability: You are eligible for 40% of your high-3 average salary minus 60% of your Social Security benefit for any month in which you are entitled to Social Security disability benefits.
• Benefits after age 62: Depending on your number of years of service, you are either eligible for 1% or 1.1% of your high-3 average for each year of service.