The Office of Personnel Management has given federal employees the month of September to sign up for life insurance plans.
OPM officials said on Aug. 31 that open season for the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance plan would run from Sept. 1 until Sept. 30, during which time federal employees can select coverage for themselves and family members.
"This Open Season will give eligible enrollees an opportunity to reassess their insurance needs and select the appropriate amount of coverage that is right for them and their families," said OPM Acting Director Beth F. Cobert said in a statement.
The life insurance plan currently covers 4 million annuitants, including 2.4 million federal employees. OPM announced this summer that it would open enrollment in the FEGLI plan for the first time since 2004, when an estimated 146,000 employees added or changed their coverage.
Alan Spielman, OPM’s assistant director of Federal Employee Insurance Operations, said that the agency had been looking to do an FEGLI enrollment period for some time, after averaging five to eight years between open season, but the resources and time required to roll out last year’s self plus one insurance plan delayed the agency’s designs for a new open season until this year.
"This is entirely at the agency’s discretion," he said. "Our existing regulations don’t set forth any specific criteria.
"We wanted to be responsive to our requests, yet we needed to take into account our sort of administrative capacity to do it and do it effectively. There’s no specified formula or detailed criteria [to designating open season].
Employees looking to adjust or sign up for new coverage have the month to determine which plan they want to sign up for, but OPM officials noted that new coverage won’t start up for a little more than a year.
New enrollees will see their insurance coverage begin on Oct. 1, 2017, while most postal employees will start new coverage on Oct. 14.
OPM officials said the delay was to maintain stable premium levels, since the FEGLI plan has no underwriters. Beneficiaries will not be charged premiums until their coverage starts in 2017.
Federal employees looking to retire must have insurance coverage for at least five years if they want it to count during their retirement, meaning new FEGLI enrollees cannot retire before 2022 if they want the life insurance benefits.
Employees who already have FEGLI coverage don’t have to take any action and can reduce coverage at any time.
Officials stressed anyone looking to add or change their coverage must select all the coverage they want during open season and not just the coverage they want to change. Any coverage not selected will be waived or cancelled.
Employees looking to participate in open season can contact their agency’s human resources department and request the FEGLI election form—Standard Form 2817—or file electronically.
