Q. I am a 51-year-old FERS employee whose minimum retirement age is 56. I will have over 30 years of service when I reach the minimum retirement age. A couple of years ago, I went under my wife’s health plan. We incorrectly assumed that she needed five years to become vested and that we could just stay under her plan when we retired (as with FERS). However, she is a Non-Appropriated Funds Defense Department employee and would need 15 years.
I am picking up my Federal Employees Health Benefits insurance again so that I will have five years under the plan when I reach the MRA. If I were to retire at 56, my understanding is that I can (a) begin receiving a reduced annuity immediately or (b) defer receiving my annuity until I reach 62. I was told that if I begin immediately receiving a reduced annuity, I can keep my FEHB and still benefit from the government contribution.
What happens if I defer the annuity until I am 62? Will I need to pay the whole premium, plus 2 percent, for the years between 56 and 62? My wife will likely work until I am 62, so could I go under her health insurance between 56 and 62 and then pick up my FEHB again when I begin collecting my annuity? Under either of those scenarios, could I change my coverage from self-only to self and family to add my wife to my coverage when I am 62?
A. I think you are suffering from a misunderstanding, which I hope to clear up. If you will have 30 years of service when you reach your MRA, you could retire on an immediate unreduced annuity. And you would also be entitled to the special retirement supplement, which approximates the Social Security benefit you earned while a FERS employee. If you had five years of continuous enrollment in the FEHB, you could carry that coverage into retirement and, unless you are a Postal Service employee, the premiums you’d pay as a retiree would be the same as those you have been paying as an employee.
