60-Day FRN

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 149 / Friday, August 2, 2013 / Notices
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submissions
of responses.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until October 1, 2013.
This process is conducted in accordance
with 5 CFR 1320.1.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit written comments on
the proposed information collection to
National Healthcare Operations, Office
of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street
NW., Washington, DC 20415, Attention:
Ed DeHarde, or sent via electronic mail
to [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A
copy of this ICR, with applicable
supporting documentation, may be
obtained by contacting National
Healthcare Operations, Office of
Personnel Management, 1900 E Street
NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention:
Ed DeHarde, or sent via electronic mail
to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section
1334 of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111–
148, as amended by the Health Care
Education Reconciliation Act, Public
Law 111–152 (together, ‘‘Affordable
Care Act’’), directed the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) to enter
into contracts with health insurance
issuers to offer coverage on Exchanges
(also called ‘‘Marketplaces’’) throughout
the 50 States and the District of
Columbia. OPM issued final regulations
for the establishment of the Multi-State
Plan Program (MSPP) on March 11,
2013, 78 FR 15560, which outlined an
external review process that would be
available to enrollees in Multi-State
Plans (MSPs).
The regulations state that ‘‘OPM will
conduct external review of adverse
benefit determinations using a process
similar to OPM review of disputed
claims under [the Federal Employees
Health Benefits Program] . . . .’’ A
necessary part of conducting external
review of adverse benefit
determinations is accepting requests for
external review from MSP enrollees
who seek external review.
In general, after an issuer denies a
claim, the enrollee whose claim is
denied may ask the issuer to reconsider
through a process called an internal
appeal. If an issuer upholds a denial on
internal appeal, the enrollee may seek
external review of the denial. External
review is a process that affords an
enrollee in an MSP the right to have a
denial of a claim appealed to an entity
other than his or her health insurance
issuer. The attached Model Notice of
Final Internal Adverse Benefit

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Determination illustrates the content of
the notice that an MSP issuer must
provide to an MSP enrollee after
denying a claim and upholding such
denial upon internal appeal.
Analysis
Agency: National Healthcare
Operations, Office of Personnel
Management.
Title: Request for External Review.
OMB Number: 3206–NEW.
Frequency: Occasionally.
Affected Public: Multi-State Plan
enrollees.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
2,933,333.
Estimated Time per Respondent: 30
minutes.
Estimated Total Burden Hours:
1,466,666.5.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Elaine Kaplan,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 2013–18602 Filed 8–1–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325–38–P

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
Submission for Review: Designation of
Beneficiary: Federal Employees’ Group
Life Insurance, SF 2823
U.S. Office of Personnel
Management.
ACTION: 60-Day Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:

The Retirement Services,
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
offers the general public and other
Federal agencies the opportunity to
comment on a revised information
collection request (ICR) 3206–0136,
Designation of Beneficiary: Federal
Employees’ Group Life Insurance, SF
2823. As required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, (Pub. L. 104–13,
44 U.S.C. chapter 35) as amended by the
Clinger-Cohen Act (Pub. L. 104–106),
OPM is soliciting comments for this
collection. The Office of Management
and Budget is particularly interested in
comments that:
1. Evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of functions
of OPM, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of OPM’s
estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and
assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and

SUMMARY:

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4. Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submissions
of responses.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until October 1, 2013.
This process is conducted in accordance
with 5 CFR 1320.1.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit written comments on
the proposed information collection to
the U.S. Office of Personnel
Management, Healthcare and Insurance,
1900 E Street NW., Room 4332,
Washington, DC 20415, Attention:
Christopher Meuchner or sent by email
to [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A
copy of this ICR, with applicable
supporting documentation, may be
obtained by contacting the U.S. Office of
Personnel Management, Retirement
Services Publications Team, 1900 E
Street NW., Room 4445, Washington,
DC 20415, Attention: Cyrus S. Benson,
or sent by email to
[email protected] or faxed to
(202) 606–0910.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Standard
Form 2823 is used by any Federal
employee or retiree covered by the
Federal Employees’ Group Life
Insurance (FEGLI) Program, or an
assignee who owns an insured’s
coverage, to instruct the Office of
Federal Employees’ Group Life
Insurance how to distribute the
proceeds of the FEGLI coverage when
the statutory order of precedence does
not meet his or her needs. OPM is
revising the form to clarify its policy
regarding the filing of court orders used
for the payment of FEGLI benefits. In
addition, OPM is making some minor
textual changes to explain how and to
whom proceeds can be designated, and
emphasizing that the insured individual
keep the designation updated as needs
change.
Analysis
Agency: Retirement Operations,
Retirement Services, Office of Personnel
Management.
Title: Designation of Beneficiary:
Federal Employees’ Group Life
Insurance.
OMB Number: 3206–0136.
Frequency: On occasion.
Affected Public: Individuals or
Households.
Number of Respondents: 48,000.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 149 / Friday, August 2, 2013 / Notices

Estimated Time per Respondent: 15
minutes.
Total Burden Hours: 12,000.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Elaine Kaplan,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 2013–18604 Filed 8–1–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325–38–P

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
Civil Service Retirement System and
Federal Employees’ Retirement
System; Opportunity for Annuitants to
Elect Survivor Annuity Benefits for
Same-Sex Spouses
Office of Personnel
Management.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) is providing notice
of a 2-year opportunity for annuitants
who are in legal same-sex marriages to
elect survivor annuities for their
spouses under the Civil Service
Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal
Employees’ Retirement System (FERS).
DATES: All retirees who are in legal
same-sex marriages have through June
26, 2015, to inform OPM that they have
legal same-sex marriages that now
qualify for recognition and to elect
survivor annuities for their spouses
based on their recognized marital status.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Information by Phone: Call the
Retirement Information Office toll-free
at 1–888–767–6738. If you use TTY
equipment, call 1–855–887–4957. Be
sure to have your claim number (CSA
number) on hand when you call a
specialist. Information by Email:
[email protected].
Information or Elections by Mail: U.S.
Office of Personnel Management,
Retirement Operations Center, PO Box
45, Boyers, PA, 16017–0045. Please
include your full name and your claim
number (CSA number) in your
correspondence.
SUMMARY:

Section 3
of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
provided that, when used in a Federal
law, the term ‘‘marriage’’ would mean
only a legal union between one man and
one woman as husband and wife, and
that the term ‘‘spouse’’ referred only to
a person of the opposite sex who is a
husband or a wife. Because of DOMA,
the Federal Government has been
prohibited from recognizing the legal
marriages of same-sex couples for
purposes of retirement benefit programs.

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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On June 26, 2013, in United States v.
Windsor, 570 U.S. __ (2013), the
Supreme Court of the United States
(Supreme Court) ruled that Section 3 of
DOMA is unconstitutional. As a result
of this decision, the U.S. Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) is now
able to extend benefits to Federal
employees and annuitants who are
legally married to spouses of the same
sex, regardless of the employees’ or
annuitants’ states of residency.
Consistent with OPM’s long-standing
policy of recognizing the legal foreign
marriages of opposite-sex couples for
purposes of the retirement benefit
programs that OPM administers, OPM
will also recognize legal same-sex
marriages granted in countries that
authorize such marriages, regardless of
the employees’ or annuitants’ states of
residency, for purposes of these
programs.
As OPM stated in its June 28, 2013
Memorandum for Heads of Executive
Departments and Agencies, all retirees
who are in legal same-sex marriages will
have 2 years from the June 26, 2013 date
of the Supreme Court’s decision (i.e,
through June 26, 2015) to inform OPM
that they have legal marriages that now
qualify for recognition and to elect
reductions in their CSRS or FERS
retirement annuities to provide survivor
annuity benefits for their spouses, based
on their recognized marital status. An
annuitant should be aware that electing
a survivor annuity will require a
reduction of his/her annuity to provide
the survivor annuity, or an adjustment
of the amount of reduction currently
being made to provide an insurable
interest annuity to change the reduction
amount to a survivor annuity reduction.
Before an election is made, we
recommend that the annuitants
carefully consider what effect the
reduction or change in reduction will
have on the amount of their net
annuities.
Annuitants should consider their
language carefully before sending OPM
written requests regarding survivor
benefits for their spouses. An annuitant
who contacts OPM and only request
information about the effect a survivor
election would have on the annuity will
receive a statement describing the cost
of the election and an election form that
would need to be returned to OPM by
June 26, 2015, to elect the survivor
benefit. An annuitant who sends a
signed statement or letter to OPM and
indicates that he/she wants to elect a
survivor benefit for a spouse will also
receive a statement describing the cost
of the election; he/she will not be able
to change his/her mind about providing
the survivor benefit. Unless otherwise

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specified, OPM will consider any
requests for information about survivor
benefits or any signed elections of
survivor benefits as requests for
information or elections of the
maximum survivor benefit. More
information about the election and the
survivor reduction is provided at http://
www.opm.gov/retirement-services/myannuity-and-benefits/life-events/
#url=MarriageDivorce.
A request for information about
survivor annuity benefits or signed,
written elections of survivor benefits
should be accompanied with a copy of
the marriage certificate proving the
same-sex marriage. Please be advised
that an election of a survivor annuity is
irrevocable. An annuitant will not be
able to change an election later. We
strongly urge annuitants to carefully
consider elections before submitting
them to OPM.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Elaine Kaplan,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 2013–18665 Filed 8–1–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325–38–P

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
Excepted Service
U.S. Office of Personnel
Management (OPM).

AGENCY:
ACTION:

Notice.

This notice identifies
Schedule A, B, and C appointing
authorities applicable to a single agency
that were established or revoked from
June 1, 2013, to June 30, 2013.

SUMMARY:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Senior Executive Resources Services,
Senior Executive Services and
Performance Management, Employee
Services, 202–606–2246.
In
accordance with 5 CFR 213.103,
Schedule A, B, and C appointing
authorities available for use by all
agencies are codified in the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR). Schedule A,
B, and C appointing authorities
applicable to a single agency are not
codified in the CFR, but the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM)
publishes a notice of agency-specific
authorities established or revoked each
month in the Federal Register at
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/. OPM also
publishes an annual notice of the
consolidated listing of all Schedule A,
B, and C appointing authorities, current
as of June 30, in the Federal Register.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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