If you're early in your career, you may think “retiree health insurance” isn't a topic you should be terribly concerned about at the moment, but you might be surprised! If you plan on retiring before 65, when most are eligible for Medicare, then health insurance costs could be something you want to start thinking about now.
Your ASRS contribution rate actually consists of two main parts: the “Pension and Health Insurance Benefit” rate, which is a pre-tax deduction from your paycheck, and the “Long Term Disability Income Plan” rate, which is a post-tax deduction. If you look at your paystub, the pre-tax deduction is listed as “ASRSRET” while the post-tax deduction is labeled “ASRS LTD.”
We receive plenty of questions pertaining to ASRS contributions. Most of these questions center on members' desires to manage how their contributions are invested or wanting to contribute a different amount – whether less or more.
Have you moved recently? Or perhaps changed phone numbers or email addresses? Avoid this common mistake to make sure the ASRS has your correct information on file.
Did you know that as a contributing member of the ASRS, you have access to long term disability (LTD) should you ever need it? Read through this quick overview to get an idea of what it is, what it provides, and when it might be available to you.
How much do you know about Social Security? Regardless of your age, it’s good to have a foundational knowledge of what it is and what it provides – including disability benefits, survivor benefits and, of course, retirement benefits. In fact, Social Security is a fundamental part of your retirement plan! The ASRS is meant to be only one part of your financial retirement picture, with Social Security and personal savings making up the rest.
The ASRS currently serves over 660,000 members, including retirees, active members, and inactive account holders. With that many members, complicated account situations are not uncommon. One of the most frequent is when a family member contacts us after a member’s death, trying to manage the now-deceased member’s ASRS account. What can make this situation particularly difficult is when the deceased member never registered their myASRS account and did not list any beneficiaries.