Title 5Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73not60

§8710 Reinsurance

Title 5 › Part III— EMPLOYEES › Subpart G— Insurance and Annuities › Chapter 87— LIFE INSURANCE › § 8710

Last updated Apr 3, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Office of Personnel Management must arrange for other life insurance companies to take parts of the group life policies it issues. The Office decides before each policy year which companies can be reinsurers and how much each company will keep or give away. It makes that decision at least every 3 years and whenever a participating company withdraws. The split is based on how much group life insurance each company already has in force in the United States on the latest December 31 with available data. Any amount above $100,000,000 is counted less: 25% is cut from the first $100,000,000 of the excess, 50% from the next $100,000,000, 75% from the next $100,000,000, and 95% from any remaining excess. A fraternal benefit association can be a reinsurer if it is licensed where it does business and it issues policies only to United States employees. Each issuing company or reinsurer must get at least an allocation equal to any drop in its group life insurance from December 31, 1953 to the determination date, but any extra amount from that rule is reduced by the value of similar policies the Office has already taken on. The Office may change the calculation methods if needed to carry out these rules.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §8710

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Office of Personnel Management shall arrange with a company issuing a policy under this chapter for the reinsurance, under conditions approved by the Office, of portions of the total amount of insurance under the policy, determined under this section, with other life insurance companies which elect to participate in the reinsurance.
(b)The Office shall determine for and in advance of a policy year which companies are eligible to participate as reinsurers and the amount of insurance under a policy which is to be allocated to the issuing company and to reinsurers. The Office shall make this determination at least every 3 years and when a participating company withdraws.
(c)The Office shall establish a formula under which the amount of insurance retained by an issuing company after ceding reinsurance, and the amount of reinsurance ceded to each reinsurer, is in proportion to the total amount of each company’s group life insurance, excluding insurance purchased under this chapter, in force in the United States on the determination date, which is the most recent December 31 for which information is available to the Office. In determining the proportions, the portion of a company’s group life insurance in force on the determination date in excess of $100,000,000 shall be reduced by—
(1)25 percent of the first $100,000,000 of the excess;
(2)50 percent of the second $100,000,000 of the excess;
(3)75 percent of the third $100,000,000 of the excess; and
(4)95 percent of the remaining excess.
(d)A fraternal benefit association which is—
(1)licensed to transact life insurance under the laws of a State or the District of Columbia; and
(2)engaged in issuing insurance certificates on the lives of employees of the United States exclusively;
(e)An issuing company or reinsurer is entitled, as a minimum, to be allocated an amount of insurance under the policy equal to any reduction from December 31, 1953, to the determination date, in the amount of the company’s group life insurance under policies issued to associations of employees of the United States. However, any increase under this subsection in the amount allocated is reduced by the amount in force on the determination date of any policy covering life insurance agreements assumed by the Office.
(f)The Office may modify the computations under this section as necessary to carry out the intent of this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 2096(c)–(e).Aug. 17, 1954, ch. 752, § 7(c)–(e), 68 Stat. 739.Aug. 11, 1955, ch. 794, § 3, 69 Stat. 677. The section is reorganized to clarify the steps in the computation of the insurance allocable to issuing and reinsuring companies. In subsections (c) and (d), references to the first determination date, December 31, 1953, are omitted as executed. Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1978—Subsecs. (a) to (c), (e), (f). Pub. L. 95–454 substituted “Office of Personnel Management” and “Office” for “Civil Service Commission” and “Commission”, respectively, wherever appearing.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1978 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 95–454 effective 90 days after Oct. 13, 1978, see section 907 of Pub. L. 95–454, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 8710

Title 5Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Apr 3, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60