Insurance FAQs

Yes. The amount of your FEGLI automatically increases when your salary goes up, whenever your annual pay is increased by an amount sufficient to raise the pay to the next $1,000 bracket.

Premiums are paid on a pre-tax basis (premium conversion) if you are an active employee and your salary is sufficient to make the premium withholding. Pre-tax premiums are not available to annuitants, survivor annuitants or compensationers.

The Privacy Rule permits OPM to impose reasonable, cost-based fees. The fee may include only the cost of copying (including supplies and labor) and postage, if you request that the copy be mailed. We expect to charge an amount similar to that used for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

No.  By law, annuitants are not eligible for FSAFEDS.  For more information, please refer to the FSAFEDS Summary of Benefits.

Yes, if you experience one of the following Qualifying Life Events: You are enrolled in a FEHB Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and you (or a covered family member) move or become employed outside the geographic area from which your FEHB carrier accepts enrollments; (or, if already outside this area, you move further from this area); You lose coverage due to discontinuance in whole or part of your FEHB plan; You experience a change in your family status. (Family status changes include marriage, legal separation, divorce, death of spouse or dependent, loss of coverage by your last dependent child.)

We have published a final regulation that allows current FEHB annuitants and former spouses who are eligible for these programs to suspend their FEHB coverage and premium payments. The regulation allows these individuals to reenroll in the FEHB Program during the Open Season, or immediately if they are involuntarily disenrolled from the non-FEHB coverage.

Being sent to a combat zone does NOT cancel FEGLI coverage. Civilian employees who are sent to a war zone or combat zone in a support capacity keep their FEGLI coverage, including Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) coverage. Being sent to a combat zone does not affect the amount of your FEGLI coverage. If a Federal employee working in a war zone is killed, "regular" death benefits are payable to the employee's beneficiaries. Accidental death benefits are also payable under Basic insurance (and Option A, if the employee had that coverage) unless the employee was in actual combat (or unless nuclear weapons were being used) at the time of the injury that caused the employee's death. The Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) decides whether to pay accidental death benefits only after thoroughly studying the facts and documentation surrounding an employee's death. The determination is made on a case by case basis. While we cannot say that in 100% of civilian deaths AD&D benefits will be payable, we can say that it is highly unlikely for a civilian to be in actual combat. Accidental death benefits are in addition to regular death benefits. Even if accidental death benefits are not payable, regular death benefits ARE payable.

Contact your health plan directly for this information.

No. Your agency can postpone automatic reinstatement of your FEHB until your transitional TRICARE ends if you sign a Waiver of Immediate Reinstatement of FEHB, which is available through your Human Resources Office.

If you are the surviving spouse and you receive a survivor annuity, you can continue the deceased's Self and Family enrollment for all eligible family members. The enrollment will be changed to your name and premiums withheld from your survivor annuity. If you are the only person eligible for coverage, the enrollment will be changed to Self Only. After the change, the carrier will send you a new identification card.

Annuitants sometimes need a new copy of “Your Federal Retirement Benefits” to show their retirement income to their mortgage lender, bank, underwriter, state income tax office, or low-income housing provider.  To request a new copy of “Your Federal Retirement Benefits”, or to receive a verification of your annuity, contact OPM’s Retirement Office at 1-888-767-6738 or retire@opm.gov.  The phone lines are open from 7:30 am to 7:45 pm (Eastern Standard Time). It is a busy phone number so we encourage you to call early in the morning or after 5:00 pm when the phone lines are less busy.

We suggest that you look at The Department of Health and Human Services website (specifically HHS's Office of Civil Rights), since they are tasked with writing and enforcing these regulations. Here are two links:

• www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/
• www.hhs.gov/ocr/faqs1001.doc

You are eligible for Medicare if you are age 65 or over. Also, certain disabled persons and persons with permanent kidney failure (or End Stage Renal Disease) are eligible. You are entitled to Part A without having to pay premiums if you or your spouse worked for at least 10 years in Medicare-covered employment. (You automatically qualify if you were a Federal employee on January 1, 1983.) If you donï't automatically qualify for Part A, and you are age 65 or older, you may be able to buy it; contact the Social Security Administration. You must pay premiums for Part B coverage, which are withheld from your monthly Social Security payment or your annuity. You must be enrolled in both Medicare Parts A and B before you can enroll in Part C. You must be enrolled in either Part A or Part B before you can enroll in Part D. The cost of any additional premium will vary depending on the Part C or Part D plan that you select.

No. The FEGLI Program provides group term insurance. It does not have any cash value and you cannot borrow against your coverage. The only opportunities to get money from your coverage while you are still alive are (1) if you are terminally ill and qualify for Living Benefits, or (2) if you are terminally or chronically ill and assign your coverage to a viatical settlement firm.

You will be covered only for emergency care. Unless your HMO has a "reciprocity" agreement with a plan in your new area that allows you to get routine care, you must travel back to your HMO for care, or change plans. You can change plans anytime after moving; contact your retirement system.

If your agency does not pay your premiums, you must pay the employee's share of the premium during the first 12 months of coverage (just as any other employee on leave without pay). You must pay both the employee and government shares, plus an administrative charge of 2 percent of the total premium, for up to 12 additional months that you continue your coverage while on military duty.

Examples Susan L. has $100 per pay period deducted from her salary for her contribution towards FEHB coverage. Ms. L's employing agency mistakenly deducts $150 during the last pay period prior to the effective date of her participation in premium conversion. To correct the error, the agency deducts $50 for FEHB from Ms. Lee's pay in the following pay period, during which she has begun participating in premium conversion. Except for agency error, $100 would have been deducted from her pay. However, only $50 is treated on a pre-tax basis. Ms. L's employing agency mistakenly makes no FEHB deduction during the last pay period prior to the effective date of her participation in premium conversion. To correct the error, the agency deducts $200 from Ms. L's pay in the following pay period, during which she has begun participating in premium conversion. Since the deduction for FEHB coverage is taken after she begins participation in premum conversion, $200 is afforded pre-tax treatment. Ms. L's employing agency mistakenly does not process her participation in premium conversion. As a consequence, Ms. L's $100 FEHB deduction is not afforded pre-tax treatment. To correct the error, the agency changes Ms. L's premium conversion status to "participant" in the following pay period. If not for the error, Ms. L. would have had $200 deducted from her pay on a pre-tax basis. However, only $100 is eligible for pre-tax treatment. As you can see, under these rules an error correction may result in a greater or lower tax benefit than would otherwise have occurred.

You may select one or both or neither.

You are no longer an eligible family member when your divorce or annulment becomes final. You get a 31-day extension of your health benefits plans coverage after that date. You may convert to an individual contract offered by your health benefits plan, if you don't qualify for or don't want FEHB coverage through Spouse Equity or TCC.