FEHB Open Season 2027: dates and what to check

The dates

The Federal Benefits Open Season for the 2027 plan year runs from Monday, November 9, 2026 through Monday, December 14, 2026. It covers four programmes:

• FEHB, the health programme for most federal employees and annuitants.
• PSHB, the separate programme for postal employees, annuitants and their families.
• FEDVIP, dental and vision.
• FSAFEDS, flexible spending accounts.

The window is set by regulation rather than picked each year, which is why it always lands on a Monday in the second full work week of November and closes on a Monday in the second full work week of December.

When coverage starts

What rolls over, what doesn't

• FEHB rolls over. Do nothing and you stay in the same plan and option at the 2027 premium.
• FEDVIP rolls over. Same rule.
• FSAFEDS does not. Your account ends on December 31 unless you re-elect during the window. There is no automatic renewal, no grace, and no way to fix it in January.

For the 2026 plan year the health care FSA limit is $3,400, with up to $680 of carryover if you re-enrol, and the dependent care limit is $7,500 per household. The IRS sets the 2027 limits separately, usually in the autumn, so check the figure in FSAFEDS before you fix your election. New for 2027: FSAFEDS is adding a Visa card for health care accounts, so you can pay at the counter instead of claiming the money back.

Rolling over is not the same as being unchanged. Premiums move every year, and so do deductibles, copays and drug tiers. A plan that suited you in 2026 can quietly stop suiting you in 2027 while you do nothing at all.

Where each change is made

• FEHB, employees: your agency's benefits system, which differs by agency.
• FEHB, annuitants: OPM Retirement Services online, or by writing to OPM.
• FEDVIP: BENEFEDS, at benefeds.gov.
• FSAFEDS: fsafeds.gov.

These are separate systems with separate logins. Changing your FEHB plan does nothing to your dental, and re-electing your FSA does nothing to your health plan. Check your login for each one before November 9, because a forgotten password on December 13 is a real way to miss the deadline.

The 2027 premiums

OPM published the 2027 rates on September 30, 2026. The headline figures:

• The enrollee share rises 10.9% on average, the third straight double-digit year, though down from 12.3% for 2026.
• The overall premium rises 9.3%, and the government contribution 8.6%.
• In dollars, that is about $13.37 more a pay period for Self Only and $40.25 for Self and Family, on average.
• FEDVIP moves far less: dental up 1.0%, vision up 1.6%.
• PSHB is separate: enrollee share up 8.2%, overall up 6.7%.

Averages hide a lot. Some plans rose far more than 10.9% and a handful cost less than they did in 2026, which is the whole argument for checking your own plan rather than reading the headline.

OPM says premium growth is driven by rising prices and use across inpatient, physician and surgical care, continued growth in behavioural and mental health care, and higher drug spending, particularly on GLP-1s and specialty drugs.

Two changes that catch people in 2027

Nine FEHB plans end on December 31. If you are in one of these, you must choose a new plan during Open Season. Do nothing and OPM moves you automatically into Compass Rose Standard, which may be nothing like the plan you had:

• Independent Health Standard, and Independent Health HDHP
• Blue Care Network of Michigan, Southeast High
• UHC Choice Primary West High, and UHC Choice Plus Primary West High
• Health Net of California Northern High
• Health Net of California Southern, High, Standard and Basic

One PSHB plan also ends, UnitedHealthcare Choice Plus Primary Postal East, with Blue Cross FEP Blue Focus as the default.

Adding a family member now needs paperwork. Under the FEHB Protection Act of 2025, anyone adding a new family member during this Open Season must submit documents proving that person is eligible. A marriage certificate, a birth certificate, that kind of thing. Leave it to December 13 and you may not have what you need in time.

A checklist for the window

Before November 9

• Add up what you actually spent this year, premiums plus out of pocket.
• List every prescription you take regularly, with the dose.
• Confirm you can log into your agency's benefits system, BENEFEDS and FSAFEDS.
• Note any change coming in 2027: a baby, a child turning 26, a move, a retirement, a spouse changing jobs.

During the window

• Read the "changes for 2027" section at the front of your plan's brochure. It is the highest-value reading in the whole document.
• Check your doctors and your hospital are still in network for next year.
• Check each prescription against the 2027 formulary, not this year's.
• Compare Self Plus One against Self and Family if you cover one person. In some plans the family rate is cheaper for the same two people.
• Re-elect FSAFEDS if you want it, and set the amount deliberately rather than repeating last year's.

Before December 14

• Confirm each election shows as submitted in each system, and save the confirmation.
• Check your January leave and earnings statement against what you elected.

What goes wrong

• Forgetting FSAFEDS. The single most common and most expensive Open Season mistake.
• Ignoring a termination notice. Nine plans end this year, and doing nothing lands you in a default plan rather than one you chose.
• Assuming the plan is unchanged. Benefits move even when the premium barely does.
• Comparing premiums only. The catastrophic limit decides what a bad year costs you.
• Leaving a child on after 26. Coverage ends at 26 and the enrollment type does not adjust itself.
• Retiring soon and switching casually. Carrying FEHB into retirement needs five continuous years of coverage, though switching plans inside FEHB does not break that clock.
• Postal employees reading FEHB material. PSHB is its own programme with its own plans and premiums.

Common questions