No Mistake on FEGLI Election Delay

In response to questions from federal personnel offices regarding a key provision of the upcoming open season in the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program, the Office of Personnel Management has sent out a memo saying that what they were questioning was no mistake: elections made during the open season, which will run September 1-30, will not take effect until a year later, with the first pay period of September 2005. The memo noted that the prior FEGLI open season, in 1999, also had a delayed effective date. “The reason for the delay is to prevent adverse selection-employees increasing coverage only when they know they need it, resulting in a high number of immediate claims. Such claims increase the program’s costs, and the delayed effective date lessens that effect,” OPM told agencies. OPM added that the election form to be used in the open season, to be called the FE-2004, is not ready yet.