The Foreign Service Journal, March 2013

40 MARCH 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Social Security disability benefits. But that is where the second obstacle comes in: Due to the narrow definitions of disability that the Social Security Administration uses to discour- age fraudulent claims, disabled employees cannot count on receiving those payments. Left in the Lurch: The Foreign Service Another reason disability coverage is so important for the families of Foreign Service employees is the fact that they often cannot count on a second income from the non-FS spouse or partner, given the difficulty of maintaining a career as they move from country to country. Whereas dual-income families in the United States have the additional safety net of a second income, Foreign Service families have usually sacri- ficed this for the sake of the career and the privilege of serving their country overseas. Ironically, the coverage available to Foreign Service employees is very limited, precisely because they work over- seas. In fact, according to Ryan Insurance Strategy Consul- annuity during the first year is just 60 percent of their high- three average salary—minus 100 percent of Social Security benefits. During the second year and until age 62, the annuity falls to 40 percent of their high-three average salary, minus 60 percent of Social Security benefits. Employees can perform a rough calculation of potential disability income for themselves by looking up their potential Many Foreign Service employees assume that their disability retirement pension will approximate their pre-retirement salary, but this is not usually the case.