Expert's View

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Recent articles have looked at two kinds of Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance available to you as a federal employee: Basic and Option A – Standard. This time we will turn to Option B – Additional Optional.

Compared to Option A, which is a flat $10,000 of coverage, Option B allows you to tailor your FEGLI coverage to provide a much larger benefit.

But just as is true of Option A, you can only enroll in Option B if you are already covered by Basic insurance, and you pay the full cost with no employer contribution.

Option B allows you to elect an amount equal to one, two, three, four or five times your annual basic pay, after rounding it up to the next $1,000. Here are premium costs per $1,000 of coverage if you are an employee.

Under age 35           $0.02

Age 35 through 39      $0.03

Age 40 through 44      $0.04

Age 45 through 49      $0.07

Age 50 through 54      $0.11

Age 55 through 59      $0.20

Age 60 through 64      $0.44

Age 65 through 69      $0.54

Age 70 through 74      $0.96

Age 75 through 79      $1.80

Age 80+                $2.64

At retirement, you can retain the coverage you had as an employee and continue to pay the full cost of that coverage (here, as above, the amounts are per $1,000 of coverage), which will rise as you grow older.

Under age 35           $0.043

Age 35 through 39      $0.065

Age 40 through 44      $0.087

Age 45 through 49      $0.152

Age 50 through 54      $0.238

Age 55 through 59      $0.433

Age 60 through 64      $0.953

Age 65 through 69      $1.170

Age 70 through 74      $2.080

Age 75 through 79      $3.900

Age 80+                $5.720

You can cut the cost of that post-retirement coverage by either reducing the number of multiples or by allowing the dollar value of that coverage to decline. If you do, beginning at age 65 it will drop at a rate of 2 percent per month for 50 months until it reaches zero.

Read more about FEGLI and FEGLI coverage changes at ask.FEDweek.com