A couple of areas federal employees often overlook when planning for retirement are the “five year rules” that apply for keeping both Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employee’s Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) after retirement.
It’s important to understand the rules before the five year period prior to your retirement date. Here are a some frequently asked questions regarding these issues from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM):
Keeping Your Health Insurance Benefits After You Retire
You may continue your health insurance coverage only if you meet the following conditions:
- Your annuity must begin within 30 days or, if you are retiring under the Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) plus 10 provision of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), health and life insurance coverage is suspended until your annuity begins, even if it is postponed.
- You must be covered for health insurance when you retire.
- You must have been continuously covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, TRICARE, or the Civilian Health and Medical Program for Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS):
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- for five years immediately before retiring; or
- during all of your federal employment since your first opportunity to enroll; or
- continuously for full periods of service beginning with the enrollment that started before January 1, 1965, and ending with the date on which you become an annuitant, whichever is shortest.
If you are a Federal annuitant enrolled in the FEHB Program and if you decide to cancel your FEHB enrollment, you should be aware of the consequences of canceling your FEHB enrollment including the following but not limited to:
- You CANNOT re-enroll in the FEHB Program.
- You and your enrolled family members will not be eligible to enroll in temporary continuation of coverage or convert to a nongroup contract; in addition, the 31-day extension of coverage does not apply to cancelled enrollments.
- If you die, you will not have an FEHB Self and Family enrollment for your survivors to continue, even if they are eligible for a survivor annuity.
Waiver of Requirement for Continuing Health Insurance Coverage
OPM has the authority to waive the five-year participation requirement when it is against equity and good conscience not to allow an individual to participate in the health insurance program as a retiree.
However, under current law, a person’s failure to meet the five-year requirement must be due to exceptional circumstances. When someone is retiring voluntarily, a waiver may not be appropriate because he or she can continue working until the requirement is met.
When circumstances under these conditions otherwise warrant a waiver, we will notify the individual’s employer.
Keeping Your Life Insurance Coverage After You Retire
You can keep your basic life insurance in retirement if all of the following conditions are met:
- You have coverage when you retire;
- You have not converted coverage to an individual policy;
- Your annuity begins within 30 days, (However if you are retiring under the Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) plus 10 provision of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and you have postponed the commencing date of your annuity, health and life insurance coverage is suspended until your annuity begins), and,
- You were insured for life insurance for the five years immediately preceding retirement or the full periods of service when coverage was available.
You can keep your optional life insurance in retirement if all of the following conditions are met:
- You are eligible to continue your basic coverage; and,
- You were covered by the optional life insurance for the five years immediately preceding retirement or the full periods of service when coverage was available, if less than five years.
Waiver of Requirement for Continuing Life Insurance Coverage into Retirement
OPM has no authority to waive the requirements for continuing life insurance coverage. If you are not eligible to continue it, you will be given the chance to change it to an individual policy.