Federal Benefits Open Season 2026 checklist
The 2026 Federal Benefits Open Season runs from November 9 to December 14, 2026, for plan year 2027. It is your once-a-year chance to change your health, dental, vision and flexible spending choices without a qualifying life event. Here is a checklist to work through before the deadline.
Key dates
- Opens: Monday, November 9, 2026.
- FEDVIP and FSAFEDS: close at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Monday, December 14, 2026.
- FEHB and PSHB: close at 11:59 pm on Monday, December 14, 2026, in the time zone of your electronic enrollment system.
1. Review your health plan (FEHB or PSHB)
- Check next year's premium for your current plan, and compare it with other plans using OPM's FEHB plan comparison tool.
- Check that your doctors, hospitals and prescriptions are still covered for 2027.
- Postal Service employees and annuitants: your coverage is in the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program, not FEHB.
- Covering one family member? OPM notes that, in some cases, the Self Plus One premium is higher than Self and Family. You can choose either, so compare both.
2. Review dental and vision (FEDVIP)
FEDVIP plans have no pre-existing condition limits, and you pay the full premium (taken from pay before taxes for employees). Open Season is the time to enroll, switch plans or change who is covered. Use OPM's FEDVIP plan comparison tool.
3. Review your flexible spending accounts (FSAFEDS)
Decide how much to set aside for 2027 health or dependent care costs, and check whether your current election carries into the new year or needs a new enrollment. FSAFEDS has its own Open Season resources on OPM's page.
4. What Open Season does not cover: life insurance
Open Season does not include FEGLI. According to OPM, there are no regularly scheduled open seasons for FEGLI, and coverage can be added only in limited cases, such as within 60 days of certain life events. See federal employee insurance: 6 common questions.
Open Season also does not reopen the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program, which is closed to new applicants under an OPM suspension running to December 19, 2026. See our guide to federal employee insurance.
5. Use the moment to check the gaps
While you are reviewing benefits, it is a good time to ask what your federal coverage does not do:
- Would your paycheck stop if illness or injury kept you out of work after your sick leave ran out?
- Would your family have enough life insurance, especially after age 65, when most FEGLI coverage shrinks?
- Could you handle a large deductible after a serious diagnosis?
Sources
- OPM, Federal Benefits Open Season, checked October 7, 2026
- OPM, Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), checked October 7, 2026
- OPM, Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Handbook, checked October 7, 2026