This region has more retired federal employees per capita than almost anywhere in the country - and a set of benefit questions that are genuinely different from what most families face.
Drive through Bethesda, Arlington, or Springfield and you're in one of the highest-density concentrations of retired federal employees anywhere in the country. That has a real effect on how long-term care planning conversations go in this metro: CSRS and FERS annuities, Thrift Savings Plan balances, Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage, and the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) come up constantly, and they don't work the way people sometimes assume.
As of July 2026, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has extended its suspension of new FLTCIP applications through at least December 2026. That suspension started in December 2024 and has been extended since. If you're already enrolled, your coverage continues; you simply can't apply for new coverage or increase an existing benefit amount right now. If you're not enrolled, FLTCIP is not currently an option to fall back on - which reshapes the rest of this planning conversation for a lot of families in this metro.
FEHB is comprehensive health coverage, but it was never designed to pay for long-term custodial care - the day-to-day help with bathing, dressing, and meals that assisted living provides. Medicare has the same limitation. That leaves federal retirees weighing TSP withdrawals, CSRS/FERS annuity income, existing FLTCIP coverage if they have it, private long-term-care insurance, or eventual Medicaid eligibility after a spend-down.
A free DC-metro advisor can help you map FEHB, FLTCIP, TSP, and Medicaid against an actual care plan.
Or call (571) 497-4418