FEGLI Program Booklet For U.S. Postal Service Employees

General Information

When Will My Life Insurance Stop?

Your life insurance coverage (including Accidental Death and Dismemberment [AD&D] insurance) as a U.S. Postal Service employee will stop on the earliest of the following dates:

• The date you separate from the U.S. Postal Service (although you may be eligible to continue coverage as an annuitant or while in receipt of workers' compensation benefits).

• The date you transfer to an excluded position. Check with your local personnel office; in some cases, you may be eligible to keep your coverage.

• The end of a period of 12 months in nonpay status* (although you may be eligible to continue coverage while in receipt of workers' compensation benefits). The 12 months may be continuous or broken by periods of less than four consecutive months of pay status.

• The end of the last day of the last pay period in which the U.S. Postal Service withheld life insurance premiums from your pay, if the U.S. Postal Service determines that for the next six months or more your pay will be insufficient to cover the withholdings, and you decide that you do not want to pay the premiums directly.

• The end of the last day of the pay period in which your local personnel office receives your Life Insurance Election (SF 2817) on which you voluntarily waive/cancel some or all life insurance. Only the coverage you waive/cancel stops, although if you cancel Basic, you automatically cancel all forms of insurance.

• The date the Government's life insurance contract ends.

Note: You are responsible for knowing when your insurance stops.

* For military reservists who separate from service for military duty, your life insurance ends at the end of 12 months in nonpay status, or 90 days after your military service ends, whichever comes first. During this period, your coverage is free.

Will I Be Entitled to a Temporary Extension of My Life Insurance?

Yes, under certain circumstances. You will have a temporary extension of coverage for 31 days after your life insurance terminates, unless you voluntarily waive/cancel coverage, or your annuity or workers' compensation benefits terminate. This temporary extension of coverage does not include AD&D insurance. No premiums or Government contributions are required during this temporary extension. See the FEGLI Handbook (RI 76-26), which is available in electronic format only, at www.opm.gov/insure/life for more details. If you are not entitled to continue your coverage, you may convert your FEGLI coverage to an individual policy (see Conversion on page 19).

Can I Voluntarily Cancel My Life Insurance?

You may voluntarily waive/cancel Basic, Option A, Option B, or Option C or reduce multiples of Option B and/or Option C at any time by completing a Life Insurance Election (SF 2817)*. Simply sign only for the insurance you wish to keep. If you do not sign for a particular type of insurance, you have waived/cancelled it. If you cancel Basic, you automatically cancel all forms of Optional insurance.

The life insurance coverage you cancel stops at the end of the pay period in which your local personnel office receives your election form cancelling the coverage. Exception: If you cancel Option C because you no longer have any eligible family members, the effective date of the cancellation is retroactive to the end of the pay period in which you ceased to have any eligible family members. You will not have a temporary extension of coverage nor the right to convert any insurance that you voluntarily cancel (see Conversion on page 19).

* Unless you have assigned your coverage, in which case only the assignee(s) may cancel your coverage. See Assignment on page 18.

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