Q. If a federal employee wants to continuing working with Medicare Part A and Part B with Tricare for Life, can the employee still suspend their Federal Employees Health Benefits, or do they need to cancel it? Is the FEHB then un-canceled and transferred to suspension after complete retirement?
A. Employees can’t suspend their FEHB coverage, they can only cancel it. If they aren’t participating in premium conversion, they can do that at any time. If they are, they have to wait for an open season.
If an employee cancels his FEHB enrollment, he can’t re-enroll when he retires. The only time he could re-enroll is while he was still an employee. However, he would then have to be enrolled for the five consecutive years before he retires to carry that coverage in to retirement.
