Q. I am a FERS employee, have 30 years of civil service time and will be 52 years old on Dec. 1. Can I retire early and keep my health benefits indefinitely at the government rate? I don’t care about receiving my pension quite yet.
A. Not indefinitely. If you left government now, you’d only be able to continue your FEHB enrollment for up to 18 months under the temporary continuation of coverage provision; however you’d have to pay 100 percent of the premiums. When a deferred retiree reaches his MRA and applies for an annuity, he would be unable to re-enroll in the FEHB program.
