Fed employee life insurance

[ats5g]

This is a question for all those feds [and x-feds] out there. I know that most FEDS can use the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program [FEGLI].

However, DW has just become aware that she can also get life insurance through the Government Employees' Benefit Association [GEBA]. Naturally, I'm suspicious about this as the Office of Personel Management [OPM] doesn't appear to mention this on their website. Just poking around GEBA's website, most of the other crap products offered [mutual funds, VA's, etc] look like run of the mill brokerage crap that I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. So, I'm strictly looking at this as an option vs. FEGLI vs. individual term for DW. Have any other FEDS out there come across this non-profit association?

While FEGLI looks to be government wide, GEBA looks to be agency specific. Also interesting is that for the same amount of insurance coverage, the premiums through GEBA are almost half of those through FEGLI.

A little funny side story - DW and coworkers "discussed" life insurance today, and almost everyone asked DW why she didn't need life insurance until the day she died. Most were a little mystified when DW said that she only needed life insurance until we were FI. Maybe I'll give her our copy of "Insurance for Dummies" to quietly leave around the office.

Thanks,

- Alec

 

[azanon]

FEGLI is overpriced. I bought an individual term policy, $100,000 coverage, for $9.80 a month. Going on shady memory, FEGLI would have been ~ $14.00 for me if i extrapolated the costs to also be for $100,000 coverage. It wasn't even close.

Needless to say, i declined it.

The Federal goverment does have some nice benefits. The life insurance isn't one of them though.

 

[Brat]

There is a 'basic' level with a co-pay which is probably worth the $.

Now that consumers can obtain good information on term policies the Fed life insurance probably has a high % of otherwise un-insurables - hence the higher cost. Beyond the meger 'basic' offering the program is entirely self-funded.