Q. Does being covered under FEHB as the spouse of a federal employee count toward the five-year requirement for FEHB eligibility as a retiree? At the time I retire, I will have been covered as a spouse for approximately 2 1/2 years. And I was covered under my own policy for about 25 years prior to that. There was no break in coverage.
A. All that matters is that you were covered by the FEHB program for the five consecutive years before retiring. It doesn’t make any difference whether you were enrolled or covered as a spouse or even switched back and forth from year to year.
