Insurance FAQs Life

When an employee who has been on military duty returns to active Federal service, he or she gets back whatever type(s) of life insurance he or she had before going into nonpay status (as long as the position is not excluded from coverage). The employee does not get an opportunity to elect more coverage unless he or she has been separated from service for at least 180 days. Benefits Administration Letter 08-203 [30 KB] - Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI): Additional Continuation pf Life Insurance Coverage for Federal Employees Called Up to Active Duty

No. There is no maximum. The amount is based on your annual basic rate of pay.

No. Option C coverage only provides coverage for your spouse and eligible children. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and other family members are not covered under Option C. There are no exceptions to this, regardless of the health status of your family member and whether he or she qualifies as your dependent.

If you elect a full Living Benefit, you stop paying premiums and the Government no longer pays its contributions for your Basic life coverage. If you elect a partial Living Benefit, your agency will adjust the withholdings and contributions for your post-election Basic Insurance Amount. The amount of the post-election Basic does not change. Subsequent salary changes have no effect on the Basic amount. However, if you have Option B coverage, it will continue to change with salary changes. A Living Benefit election has no effect on your any Optional insurance you may have.

Your employing office or the Office of Personnel Management, if applicable, must receive your Designation of Beneficiary before you die for your Designation to be valid. A Designation delivered on a weekend or Federal holiday is not "received," and is not valid, until the next workday. If you die before your employing office receives the new Designation of Beneficiary, the Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance will pay benefits in accordance with the next prior Designation on file or under the order of precedence starting with the widow or widower, if there is no designation.

To continue life insurance benefits as an OWCP compensationer, you must have carried FEGLI for the 5 years of service immediately before the beginning date of compensation or, if you had it less than 5 years, for the full period(s) of service during which you were eligible to be insured. This coverage is subject to the same conditions as those of a civil service retiree. Please see your human resources office if you are receiving compensation benefits.

If you separate from service to enter the military you are considered to be in a nonpay status for FEGLI Purposes. As long as you have reemployment rights under USERRA, you can keep your FEGLI coverage for up to 12 months, or until 90 days after your military service ends, whichever date comes first. This coverage is free. At the end of 12 months (or 90 days after the military service ends), the coverage terminates. You also get the 31-day extension of coverage and the right to convert. Public Law 110-181, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, enacted January 28, 2008, authorizes the continuation of FEGLI coverage for an additional 12 months for Federal employees called to active duty whose coverage terminated after the law's enactment. The law allows employees who enter on active duty or active duty for training in one of the uniformed services for more than 30 days to continue their FEGLI for up to 24 months. FEGLI coverage is free for the first 12 months. However, employees must pay both the employee and agency share of the premiums for their Basic coverage, and also pay the entire cost (there is no agency share) for any Optional insurance they may have for the additional 12 months of coverage. See more details in BAL 08-203. At the end of 12 months, or 90 days after your military service ends, whichever date comes first your former agency must complete an Agency Certification of Insurance Status (SF 2821) and a Notice of Conversion Privilege (SF 2819). If a claim needs to be filed while you are still covered under FEGLI, you or your survivors should contact your former employing agency.

No. Coverage for employees does not reduce based on age. The post-age 65 reductions can only affect retirees.

Portability is a provision in Public Law 105-311, the Federal Employees Life Insurance Improvement Act, which was enacted October 30, 1998. It applies only to FEGLI Option B insurance, which provides coverage in multiples of 1 to 5 times an employee's annual salary. Employees that met certain requirements were eligible to continue Option B insurance following separation from Government service. The portability provision was a three-year demonstration project. It expired April 24, 2002, and is no longer available. Your agency should not give any employees a Portability Notice or other portability information. For more detailed information refer to Benefits Administration Letter 02-206 of April 26, 2002[119 KB].

To inquire about how much coverage you have under the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program, contact OPM's Retirement Office by emailing retire@opm.gov or calling 1-888-767-6738. 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. You will need to provide your retirement claim number (CSA) or Social Security Number.   Please note: For privacy reasons, the response to an email request for information on FEGLI coverage will be mailed to the address on file with the OPM Retirement Office. It will not be sent back via email.

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If your pay is too low to allow a withholding for life insurance premiums and your human resources office expects this to last for more than six months, you will have a choice. You can choose either to terminate some or all of your insurance coverage or to continue the coverage and pay the premiums directly. (See your human resources office for more details).

Employees: Submit the designation form to your human resources office.  If you do not know how to contact your human resources office, you can ask your supervisor or your Agency Benefits Officer. Annuitants: Submit the designation form to: Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center, P.O. Box 45, Boyers, PA 16017-0045. Compensationers: If you receive benefits from the Department of Labor, Office of Workers Compensation Programs and you've been receiving these benefits for less than 12 months and you are still on the agency's rolls as an employee, submit the designation form to your human resources office. If you are on compensation and are separated from your agency or have been receiving compensation for 12 months or more, submit the designation form to OPM's Retirement Office at the address on page 3. Important: The appropriate office must receive the Designation of Beneficiary form before your death in order for the Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) to pay the benefits. If you do not file it with the proper office, OFEGLI will pay benefits in accordance with the next prior designation on file or under the order of precedence, if there is no designation.

You can find instructions on pages 2 and 3 of the Designation of Beneficiary form itself. If you need help, call MetLife at 1-800-633-4542.