Q. I retired from federal employment and continued my health care coverage, as well as coverage for my husband. My husband is eligible for Medicare next month. Can I drop his health care coverage under my Option C insurance, but keep his life insurance going?
A. Option C provides no health care coverage. It’s a way to provide you with a financial benefit in the event that a family member dies. If you want to drop that coverage you can. Doing so would have no affect on any other life insurance, such as Options A or B, where you have designated him as the beneficiary if you die.
Think twice about dropping him from your FEHB coverage. While he’ll be eligible for Medicare Part A at no cost to himself, he’d have to pay for Part B. Further, the combination of an FEHB plan and Part A alone would reduce out-of-pocket health care costs substantially. Being covered by Parts A, B and FEHB would reduce those costs to almost zero.
2 Comments
I cannot find any information on the OPM website of what continuing coverage options are available to the under age 65 dependent spouse of an annuitant who elects to drop from FEHB and enroll in Medicare Parts A & B and a Medicare supplement. Is that because hardly anyone drops FEHB when eligible for Medicare?
There aren’t any continuing coverage options. The only way you could continue to be covered is for your spouse to remain enrolled in the FEHB program.