Should I suspend FEHB coverage and just have Medicare Advantage?
If you join a commercial MA plan, not Medicare Advantage plans offered by FEHB plans, you can temporarily suspend your FEHB enrollment and stop paying two sets of premiums. Under the suspend option, you pay the Part B premium and sometimes an extra premium from the commercial Medicare Advantage plan (usually only a few hundred dollars per year and often nothing at all). You can switch out of Medicare Advantage during any future Open Season and rejoin the FEHB program as if you had never left.
Suspending your FEHB enrollment generates substantial savings because you'll pay one premium instead of two. How much you'll save depends on the precise benefits the MA plan offers to Medicare enrollees and whether it charges an extra premium.
Most MA plans are comparable to FEHB plans in hospital and medical benefits, and starting in 2025 prescription drug benefits that are as good or better than those in the FEHB program for most enrollees.
Important note: You cannot suspend your FEHB enrollment and join one of the Medicare Advantage plans offered by FEHB plans. Those plans require you to be enrolled in the FEHB plan to enroll in the Medicare Advantage plan option.
