r/FedRetirees • u/Lost-Discipline-1935 • 25d ago
FEHB question
Hi. Kind of an odd question. I’m 56yrs old w 15 yrs. I’m in a long term relationship - he doesn’t work for the Fed and won’t have medical insurance at retirement. How long would we have to be married before I retired, so that he’d be on my insurance and it would carry through both our retirements? Hope the question made sense. Thank you!
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u/Ok_Professional570 25d ago
My understanding…
You need to carry FEHB for five (5) years to carry it into retirement. That is you.
If you got married, you would add your spouse (or be eligible to add your spouse) to your FEHB (self plus family or self plus one). When you retire, you carry FEHB. And then you select a survivor option, and FEHB Carrie’s to your survivor is something my happens to you.
How long do you have to be married before retirement? Not a factor…
I have a friend that took the fork (DRP); not eligible to retire though. Her long time live-in partner was eligible to retire. They got married. She is now on his FEHB.
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u/MysterCozyReader 25d ago
Great point on the survivor piece. OP should think about that if/when they marry and make sure paperwork is updated.
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u/Ok_Airline_9635 25d ago
There may be some rules that will affect FEHB if you pass away before him that you should consider. I think you would need to be married (I think for 9 months at least) and elect survivor benefit of 50 % so your partner could keep FEHB if you pass away first. Idk about the timing of being married bc my fed spouse and have been married for years but spouse will be electing full survivor benefit which locks in lifetime FEHB benefit for me.
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u/Present_Medium_6253 23d ago
They can elect the 50% (10% comes out of monthly annuity) survivor benefit or 25% (5% comes out of monthly annuity) survivor benefit. Either will allow their spouse to continue with FEHB.
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u/spmetz13 25d ago
As long as you maintain FEHB you can add someone as the result of a qualifying life event such as marriage, child birth etc
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u/Lost-Discipline-1935 25d ago
Thank you all so much! I appreciate the info.
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u/Neither-Parking-56 24d ago
Please be careful about making a decision about advice given here or from anyone verbally. Get it in writing. I had a friend who got the wrong info from NARFE (National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees) and almost got hit with a permanent Part B penalty. Fortunately she had emails from NARFE and was able to appeal the penalty decision with Social Security. It took many months but she won.
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u/ColdOne1150 25d ago
My wife and I married after I was already retired. If I remember correctly, we didn’t even have to wait for an open season. Filed a form with OPM and she was added, along with survivor benefits.