Federal Employee FIRE Starter Pack

FEHB Five-Year Rule Checklist

If your early-retirement plan assumes FEHB stays with you, this is not optional. Work the checklist before separation, not after the paperwork gets cute.

What you are checking

  • Have you been enrolled in FEHB for the five years immediately before retirement, or since your first chance to enroll if that period is shorter?
  • Is your current retirement path the kind that preserves FEHB in retirement?
  • Are you quietly assuming a benefit outcome you have not actually verified?

Enrollment history checks

  • Write down your current FEHB plan and enrollment type.
  • Confirm when your FEHB coverage began and whether there were any gaps.
  • Check whether you were covered under your own FEHB enrollment or as a family member, and whether that matters on your path.
  • Pull plan documents or agency records now. Do not trust your memory on dates.

Retirement timing checks

  • Confirm whether you are targeting immediate retirement, MRA+10, or deferred retirement.
  • Pressure-test whether your chosen path preserves FEHB or breaks the chain.
  • List the exact retirement date you are aiming for and what service threshold it depends on.

Questions for HR or source documents

  • Does my current path preserve FEHB into retirement?
  • Do I satisfy the five-year rule based on my actual record?
  • Are there any enrollment changes that could create a problem before retirement?
  • What written source should I keep with my records so this is not based on hearsay?

Do not assume this

  • Do not assume all separations preserve FEHB. They do not.
  • Do not assume "close enough" on the five-year clock.
  • Do not assume a deferred path keeps all the same benefits economics.