FEGLI premiums: what coverage costs at each age
FEGLI Basic insurance costs the same at every age, but the optional coverages do not. The cost of Options A, B and C climbs in five-year steps, and the steps get steep in your late 50s and 60s. Here are OPM's current rates and what they mean in dollars.
Basic insurance
Employees pay $0.16 per $1,000 of coverage every two weeks ($0.3467 a month), whatever their age. The government pays the rest of the Basic premium, and the U.S. Postal Service pays the entire Basic premium for its employees.
Optional coverage: employee rates
You pay the full cost of every option. Rates from OPM's tables, checked October 7, 2026:
| Age | Option A (biweekly) | Option B (biweekly, per $1,000) | Option C (biweekly, per multiple) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $0.20 | $0.02 | $0.20 |
| 35–39 | $0.20 | $0.02 | $0.24 |
| 40–44 | $0.30 | $0.03 | $0.37 |
| 45–49 | $0.60 | $0.06 | $0.53 |
| 50–54 | $1.00 | $0.10 | $0.83 |
| 55–59 | $1.80 | $0.18 | $1.33 |
| 60–64 | $6.00 | $0.40 | $2.43 |
Option A is $10,000 of coverage. Option B is 1 to 5 multiples of your annual basic pay. Each Option C multiple is $5,000 for a spouse and $2,500 for each eligible child.
A worked example
Take an employee earning $80,000 a year who carries 5 multiples of Option B, which is $400,000 of coverage:
- At 40–44, Option B costs $12 every two weeks, about $312 a year.
- At 50–54, it costs $40 every two weeks, about $1,040 a year.
- At 60–64, it costs $160 every two weeks, about $4,160 a year.
The coverage amount barely changes, but the cost rises more than thirteenfold over 20 years. Basic coverage for the same employee ($82,000) costs $13.12 every two weeks at any age.
In retirement
If you keep Option B with No Reduction after 65, the monthly rate per $1,000 is $1.04 at 65–69, $1.863 at 70–74, $3.90 at 75–79 and $6.24 at 80 and over. For the same $400,000, that is $416 a month at 65–69 and $745.20 a month at 70–74. With Full Reduction, the coverage becomes free after 65 but shrinks by 2 percent of the original amount each month until it is gone. See keeping FEGLI after you retire for how each choice works.
What to do with this
Rising FEGLI costs are a planning question, not a reason to drop coverage in a hurry. Before you change anything:
- Work out how much coverage your family will need at 50, 60 and 70, and for how long.
- Compare the cost of keeping each option with other ways of covering the same need.
- Remember that coverage you cancel in retirement cannot be reinstated.
Private life insurance is separate from FEGLI and is priced differently: many term policies lock in a level premium for 10 to 30 years.
Sources
- OPM, FEGLI program information and premium rates, checked October 7, 2026
- OPM, Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Handbook, checked October 7, 2026