I along with most people have been thinking a lot about health and family recently with the current Coronavirus scare. Many clients have reached out and asked me about what they should do if anything were to happen to them. Does a family member, your spouse, or close friend need to call the benefits center? Do they keep your medical coverage?
Let us go through a survivor checklist for certain things your beneficiary needs to know.
What your survivor needs to do
Report your death. Your spouse, a family member or even a friend should call the PG&E Benefits Service Center as soon as possible to report your death
Collect life insurance benefits. Your spouse or other named beneficiary will need to call the PG&E Benefits Service Center to collect life insurance benefits
If you have a joint pension
Start the joint pension payments. The joint pension is not automatic. Your joint pensioner will need to complete and return the paperwork from the PG&E Pension Call Center to start receiving joint pension payments.
Be prepared financially to cover living expenses. Your spouse will need to be prepared with enough savings to bridge at least one month between the end of your pension payments and the beginning of his or her own pension payments
If your survivor has medical coverage through PG&E
Decide whether to keep medical coverage.
If your survivor is enrolled as a dependent in PG&E-sponsored retiree medical coverage when you die, he or she needs to decide whether to keep it. Survivors have to pay the full monthly premium.
If you are still are having questions, reach us at TechStaffer.
Sources:
The Retirement Group or www.theretirementgroup.com
“Retirement Plans-Benefits & Savings.” U.S. Department of Labor, 2019, www.dol.gov/general/topic/retirement.
“Generating Income That Will Last throughout Retirement.” Fidelity, 22 Jan. 2019, www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/income-that-can-last-lifetime
