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I'm trying to fill in my paperwork for my fed clerkship starting soon, and need to include a billing address for my government credit card. Besides the street address for the courthouse, what else do I need to make sure mail reaches me in my judge's chambers?

The room number - use the room number for where mail gets dropped off at chambers. In mine, it's the secretary's office.

cim_can wrote:The room number - use the room number for where mail gets dropped off at chambers. In mine, it's the secretary's office.

Thanks. Any way I can figure this out without harassing my Judge's secretary?

Also: Any reason why I shouldn't waive the fed life insurance plan? It will only cover me for the year of my clerkship, right? I don't know what the deductions will be for the insurance, but it seems like I'm going to need every cent of my paycheck to make ends meet, and if I'm only covered for the clerkship year it doesn't seem to make sense to pay, no matter how awesome the plan is (the instructions with my paperwork recommend NOT waiving this coverage, but I don't really understand why).

Anonymous User wrote:

cim_can wrote:The room number - use the room number for where mail gets dropped off at chambers. In mine, it's the secretary's office.

Thanks. Any way I can figure this out without harassing my Judge's secretary?

Does the courthouse website not include a room/suite number? (This is probably more likely for district court - if you're COA they seem a bit more cagey about such things.) Honestly, I think you can leave it off, though - it's not like the mail room isn't going to be able to find you. (You could just indicate which judge's chambers it is - then they'll definitely know where it should go.)

Personally, I did pay for the life insurance, but I'm old and married. I also think the basic plan was really inexpensive, but can't dig up a paystub now to check.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

cim_can wrote:The room number - use the room number for where mail gets dropped off at chambers. In mine, it's the secretary's office.

Thanks. Any way I can figure this out without harassing my Judge's secretary?

Does the courthouse website not include a room/suite number? (This is probably more likely for district court - if you're COA they seem a bit more cagey about such things.) Honestly, I think you can leave it off, though - it's not like the mail room isn't going to be able to find you. (You could just indicate which judge's chambers it is - then they'll definitely know where it should go.)

Personally, I did pay for the life insurance, but I'm old and married. I also think the basic plan was really inexpensive, but can't dig up a paystub now to check.

Thanks. Yeah, my COA court is pretty cagey about contact info. I'll just list the judge's chambers and I'm sure that'll be fine. Honestly I'm not sure why I'd use the gov't credit card anyway, since we still have to pay the bill and get reimbursed?

Any recommendations for which health plan I should take (also old and married, no kids).

Anonymous User wrote:Honestly I'm not sure why I'd use the gov't credit card anyway, since we still have to pay the bill and get reimbursed?

Curious about this as well.

Re: health plan, there are so many of them, it's hard to suggest one. The one I picked was local to my district, for instance. Unfortunately you really do have to go through them all to figure out how much you want in coverage vs. how much pay in premiums, that kind of thing.

Also, if your spouse works and has insurance through their job, we actually found it was cheaper to each have individual insurance plans through work, rather than either of us pay for one family plan. But that will also vary by circumstance (and is moot if your spouse isn't covered through work, of course).

I think the life insurance works out to maybe $10 per paycheck (every two weeks). Health insurance may not be worth it if you have a spouse with insurance. It could be a pain if you won't be at the job for long. Interesting though to see other perspectives (that it was cheaper to have seperate).

Assuming you are a relatively healthy person, go for the high deductible plan with health savings account. It's the best retirement account out there and with the contribution you end up paying something like $50/month for health insurance. The exact figures may be specific to the regional plan for my circuit, but check it out.

Also: no reason to pay for the life insurance unless you have dependents.

Anonymous User wrote:I think the life insurance works out to maybe $10 per paycheck (every two weeks). Health insurance may not be worth it if you have a spouse with insurance. It could be a pain if you won't be at the job for long. Interesting though to see other perspectives (that it was cheaper to have seperate).

Yeah, in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't go for the insurance plan with the absolute lowest premiums because I have various prescriptions I fill monthly, so wanted low-cost drugs more than rock-bottom premiums (and I didn't want really high deductibles either for similar reasons). And now that I think about it, it was last year that it was cheaper for the husband and I to be on separate plans than both on one (but I think it's still worth checking, depending on the plans).

I opted out for life insurance. Came out to be 9 bucks a pay check. If you are under 35 they add extra 60k to the plan, at least in my case (came in as is 11). 120k life insurance for 20 bucks a month, low payment high reward scenario I think!

Anonymous User wrote:I opted out for life insurance. Came out to be 9 bucks a pay check. If you are under 35 they add extra 60k to the plan, at least in my case (came in as is 11). 120k life insurance for 20 bucks a month, low payment high reward scenario I think!

I opted for the most life insurance I could get and it was $21.90 per pay. I think it's 5 times my annual salary and I opted for the insurance for my spouse. As a departing clerk, I have the option to purchase the policy on my own. I'm not sure if the cost changes, but I'm going to investigate it.

Anyone have any input on the NALC FEHB plan? Looking for a solid plan for myself and spouse.

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone have any input on the NALC FEHB plan? Looking for a solid plan for myself and spouse.

Also curious about this plan (any looking for a plan for me plus my spouse). It seems to be reasonably priced plus its called NALC "high" so you know its got to be good... I think I still have a bit of research to do...

Anon bump. Same questions, really, and this thread is helpful.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Honestly I'm not sure why I'd use the gov't credit card anyway, since we still have to pay the bill and get reimbursed?

Curious about this as well.

I had a government credit card in a different context (military), and the problem with using a personal card instead you generally can't get reimbursed for charges on your personal card, even if it's for something legitimate that you could have used your government card for. For example, the government wants you to use the government credit card for things like hotel rooms and airfare, because that helps their volume bargaining position for lower fares/rates in the future.