ANSWER: Since it would be impossible to explain how to win every type of case on reconsideration, let me tell you one way that you certainly won't win. You won't win if OPM is using information about you that you are unaware of. Many applicants keep a meticulous file on their case and believe that it constitutes all of the information in their case. Many are wrong. Sometimes there are medical records that physicians not have shared with patients. Sometimes OPM obtains information from workers' compensation, from supervisors, from official personnel files, from informal agency contacts, or from other sources. You need every bit of that information and you have a right to every bit of it. You even have a right to medical information that OPM may seek to conceal from you under its "prudent physician's rule." That information is critical to you winning your case, and it should be obtained, you should go for it.

Equally important as gathering all of the factual information in your case, is designing a written argument that will make OPM change its initial decision. This requires challenging not only factual assumptions but also their legal conclusions, which are often erroneous. Most disability retirement decisions contain whole paragraphs drawn directly from previous decisions that have been stored over the years in some word processor. This is a cavalier way to adjudicate someone's rights. If you want to win, you have to turn this around.

ANSWER: Yes. You can continue to carry the same group health insurance that you carried on your last day of employment with the government if: (1) you retire on an immediate annuity, and either (2) you were covered for the five years of government service directly before going onto disability retirement, or (3) if you were covered for less than that five years, you obtained your coverage at the first opportunity you could do so after entering government service. Thereafter, should you for any reason lose your disability retirement, you cannot continue to carry the group policy but are required, if you wish to keep the insurance, to carry the non-group conversion policy then available. An exception: if your disability retirement annuity is later reinstated, you can have the group policy reinstated. Of course, the group policy is always better than the private policy.

As to life insurance, you can continue to carry the same amount of basic life insurance coverage (or less, but not more) than you carried on your last day of federal employment, under rules somewhat similar to those noted above for health insurance.

Special elections and conditions may apply in different circumstances as to both types of insurance, and you should not proceed without careful inquiry. As well, be sure to take the actions within the time limits required to preserve these valuable rights to coverage.