Just so you know - you should receive a letter back from IBM confirming your selection. I sent in my notorized form several weeks ago and just received a letter back from IBM confirming my choice of "no survivor coverage".
On October 14, 2013 IBM sent out a two page flier/letter about the HRA survivor benefit. This letter is a legal document. Make sure you get this very important letter as it affects how much money your will get in your HRA account.
Read the letter, then read it again and make sure you understand it. You need to take overt action on how you want your survivor benefit to be processed. Here is the crazy part. It doesn't matter if you are single or married or have eligible dependents --- you MUST take action or, by default, your subsidy will automatically be reduced. I'll say it again because it is rather unbelieveable -----
IF YOU TAKE NO ACTION YOUR HRA SUBSIDY WILL BE PERMANENTLY REDUCED EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ELIGIBLE SPOUSE OR DEPENDENTS
In order to keep your entire subsidy - you must elect "NO IBM SURVIVOR COVERAGE", notarize the form (it is on the back of the two page flier) and mail the form to the Budco processing company by December 16, 2013. There is a second deadline of January 16, 2014 during which you can submit a form to change your first selection so that gives you the chance to change the default.
I selected Aetna Medicare as my retirement medical coverage. I still get letters from Budco warning me about IBM benefits. Do I have to do something? Can I ignore these scary letters?
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Don't ignore the letter. Did you submit your survivor selection to Budco? They is the contractor that is doing the survivor benefit part of this spinoff and you must make a selection no matter what plan you use. You were supposed to send back a form to them by mid January. I urge you to call the IBM Service Center to find out why you are getting the letter. Make sure you record who you talked to and when and make notes about the conversation.
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