Life

When you retire, you are eligible to continue life insurance if you meet all of the following requirements:

• you are entitled to retire on an immediate annuity under a retirement system for civilian employees;
• you have been insured for the 5 years of service immediately before the date your annuity starts, or for the full period(s) of service during which you were eligible to be insured if less than 5 years; and
• you have not converted to an individual policy.

You must meet the five year/all opportunity requirement for Basic and each type of Optional insurance in order to continue it into retirement.

For purposes of continuing FEGLI coverage into retirement, "service" means time in a position in which you were eligible for coverage. Breaks in service are not counted as interruptions in coverage.

An example will help.

• Joan first became eligible and enrolled in Basic and Option A coverage on February 11, 1990. She had a break in service from January 1, 1994, through January 1, 1996. Upon her return to service on January 2, 1996, she was automatically given Basic and Option A. She retires on December 31, 1997. She is eligible to continue her Basic and Option A coverage into retirement, since she has been continuously enrolled for the 5 years of service immediately before retirement.

Here's another example.

• Theodore had Basic only when he was hired in May 1966. In 1981, during the Open Season, he elected Basic and Option B, two times his salary. In November 1996, he married Isabelle and also acquired two stepchildren. Based on this life event, Theodore added 3 multiples of Option B, for a total of five multiples. Theodore retired in May 1999. He is eligible to continue Basic and Option B, two multiples, into retirement. He cannot continue the three multiples he picked up when he married because he did not have them for the five years of service immediately before his retirement nor did he have them for all the time they were available to him.