Civil Service Federal Employees Federal Employees Federal Employees

Retirement Group Life Health Benefits Retirement

System Insurance Program System

United States

Office of

Personnel Management

The Federal Government=s Human Resources Agency

Retirement and Insurance Service

 Benefits Administration Letter

 

Number: 99-212 Date: July 30,1999

Subject: Federal Employees= Group Life Insurance: More Changes

GENERAL INFORMATION

________________________________________________

Background Pub. L. 105-311, the Federal Employees Life Insurance

Improvement Act, enacted October 30, 1998, increased

the amount of coverage available under Option C. We

issued Benefits Administration Letter (BAL) 99-203 on

February 9, 1999, to provide guidance on the changes to

Option C.

Pub. L. 105-311 created a 3-year demonstration project

for the portability of Option B. BAL 99-210, issued April

29, 1999, provided instructions for implementing

portability and transmitted a Portability Notice for

agencies and employees to use until the new form (SF

2825) is ready.

________________________________________________

Purpose The purpose of this BAL is to change some of the

information previously issued regarding Option C and

portability and to provide a revised Portability Notice.

______________________________________________________________________________

OPTION C

________________________________________________

Old Information In BAL 99-203, we stated that employees who elect or

increase Option C due to marriage can elect a number of
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multiples equal to the number of eligible family members

acquired with the marriage and that employees who elect

or increase Option C due to acquiring children can elect a

number of multiples equal to the number of eligible

children acquired.

We also said that employees who elect or increase Option

C due to divorce or death of a spouse can elect a number

of multiples equal to the number of eligible children.

The maximum number of Option C multiples is 5.

________________________________________________

New Information Employees who elect or increase Option C due to a life

event can elect whatever number of multiples they want,

up to the maximum of 5.

________________________________________________

What Do Agencies Have You must contact employees who have already made an

to Do? Option C election due to a life event occurring during the

time periods shown below and offer them the opportunity

to increase their Option C coverage up to 5 multiples.

Employees whose life event occurred between October

30, 1998, and April 23, 1999, must make this election

within 60 days of your notification to them. The

increased Option C coverage will be retroactive to April

24, 1999, and the employees must pay the back

premiums.

Employees whose life event occurred on or after April

24, 1999, also must make this election within 60 days of

your notification to them. The increased Option C

coverage will be retroactive to the same effective date as

the Option C coverage they already elected due to the life

event, and the employees must pay the back premiums.

PLEASE NOTE: This applies only to Option C. There is

no change in the way the allowable number of Option B

multiples is determined due to a life event.

ALSO NOTE: An employee described above who made

an open enrollment election to increase the multiples of

Option C may choose to allow that election to stand,

instead of changing his/her election retroactive to the

previous effective date. However, by doing so, the

employee will have to meet the full 5-year requirement for
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the multiples elected during open enrollment before he/she

can continue them into retirement.

________________________________________________

Material Affected Because of this change, the FEGLI Booklet (RI 76-21 [RI

76-20 for Postal employees]) is no longer accurate. We

have prepared an addendum to the FEGLI Booklet (copy

attached) showing the new information.

You must distribute a copy of this addendum to all of your

agency=s employees, so they may put it with their copy of

the FEGLI Booklet. You must also give the addendum to

any new employees or newly eligible employees when you

give them the FEGLI Booklet.

Future shipments of the FEGLI Booklet will include

copies of the addendum.

______________________________________________________________________________

PORTABILITY

________________________________________________

Problem with Notice BAL 99-210 contained detailed information about

portability and transmitted a Portability Notice to be used

until the SF 2825 is ready. However, the Portability

Notice didn=t include a place for the employee=s address

and phone number. Since this information is also not on

the SF 2821, MetLife has no address to use to send the

individual a bill for the ported coverage.

________________________________________________

Fix We have attached a revised Portability Notice, which

includes a space for the employee=s address and phone

number. Agencies must give eligible employees this

revised notice, instead of the one attached to BAL 99-210.

________________________________________________

Reminder When an individual applies to port coverage, the

designations, assignments, and court orders that you send

to MetLife must be the originals, not copies.

________________________________________________

Important Change In BAL 99-210 we gave the time frames for applying to

to Portability Time Frames port Option B as 31 days from the date of the terminating

event.

To make sure that agencies have sufficient time to get the
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Portability Notice to the employee - especially agencies

operating on a monthly pay period - we are changing this

time frame. The new time frame is 60 days from the date

of the event.

We consider a mailed notice to be received 5 days after it

is sent. Therefore the Portability Notice will be

considered to be on time if the employing office receives

it by the 65th day after the terminating event (or by the 79th

day after the terminating event, if the individual lives

overseas).

______________________________________________________________________________

Abby L. Block, Chief

Insurance Policy

 and Information Division

Attachments
Replace the Life Event table on page 9 with this table. 

This new table reflects changes to the number of Option C multiples you can elect

due to a life event. We’ve also removed the footnote for the life event “Marriage” –

you can count a foster child gained through marriage for Option B purposes. 

Life Event Option B Multiples

You May Elect

(Up to Five Total)

Option C Multiples

You May Elect

(Up to Five Total)

Effective Dates

Marriage The number of additional

family members (spouse

and eligible children) you

gain from the marriage.

Divorce The total number of your

eligible children.

Death of

Spouse

The total number of your

eligible children.

Children The total number of

eligible children*

acquired in this event.

From one to five

multiples, regardless of

the number of eligible

family members you have

or acquired.

If you submit

SF 2817 before the

event: date of event

AND, for Option B,

you are in a pay and

duty status.

If you submit

SF 2817 after the

event: date human

resources office

receives form AND,

for Option B, you are

in a pay and duty

status.

Time Limit: within

60 calendar days after

date of event. 

 *Acquiring a foster child does not count as a life event for Option B purposes.

July 1999

ADDENDUM TO THE FEGLI BOOKLET (April 1999 edition)
PORTABILITY NOTICE

PART A - To Be Completed by Employing Agency

1. ___________________________ 2. __________________ 3. ______________________

 Name of Employee Date of Birth Social Security Number

4. ______________________________ 5. _________________________________________

 Number of Multiples of Option B Amount of Coverage in Each Multiple (annual

 the Employee Has basic pay rounded up to the nearest thousand)

6. _______________________ 7. ___________________________________

 Date of Terminating Event Name of Agency Official to Contact

 for Additional Information

8. ____________________________ 9. ____________________________

 Phone Number of Agency Official Fax Number of Agency Official

 

______________________________________________________________________________

PART B - To Be Completed by Employee (or Assignee)

Have you assigned your life insurance? ________ Yes ________ No

NOTE: If you have assigned your insurance, you cannot port your Option B coverage. Only your assignee

has the right to port your coverage. Give this Portability Notice to your assignee(s).

I choose to port (continue) _________ multiples of the Option B coverage described above. I understand

that if I do not make premium payments on time, the coverage will be canceled and cannot be reinstated.

_______________________________________________ _____________________

Signature of Employee (or Assignee, if applicable) Date

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Address of Employee (or Assignee, if applicable)

___________________________

Phone Number
INSTRUCTIONS TO EMPLOYEE/ASSIGNEE

If you want to port your Option B coverage, complete Part B of this Portability Notice and send or take it to

your agency employing office.

Also send a copy to:

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company

Voluntary Benefits Group

Administrative Services

P.O. Box 2006

Aurora, IL 60507

If you have received the SF 2821 (Agency Certification of Insurance Status), also send that form to MetLife. 

If you have not received the SF 2821, do not delay in sending this Notice.

Your employing office must receive the Portability Notice within 65 calendar days from the date of the

terminating event shown in #6 on the previous page (79 days, if you live overseas). There are no

extensions to this deadline.

______________________________________________________________________________

COST

The cost of your ported Option B coverage is the same as what you’ve been paying as an employee, as shown

in the chart below.

1999 RATE CHART

Employee’s Age Monthly Cost per $1,000 of Coverage

Under 35 $0.065

35 through 39 $0.087

40 through 44 $0.130

45 through 49 $0.217

50 through 54 $0.325

55 through 59 $0.672

60 and over $1.517

For ported coverage there is also a $1.75 per month administrative fee.

If you have any questions concerning your ported coverage, you may call MetLife at 1-800-936-4792.