United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Retirement and Insurance Service 

Benefits Administration Letter 

Number: 00-403 Date: August 23, 2000 

Subject: 2000 Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Open Season: Ordering 

and Distribution of Material 

OVERVIEW 

Open Season Materials 

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prepares open season materials for 

employees and other FEHB enrollees to use during the open season and 

throughout the year. 

The following materials will be available during the 2000 open season: 

1. 2001 Guide to Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans (FEHB Guides). 

There are different FEHB Guides for various groups of enrollees. They 

contain a comparison chart giving general information about the plans and 

their benefits and premiums, the annual FEHB customer satisfaction survey 

results, and information on which plans are accredited by the National 

Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA), the Joint Commission on 

Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and the American 

Accreditation Healthcare Commission (URAC). 

2. Plan brochures. These brochures are the statements of benefits, exclusions, 

and limitations. 

3. Materials for the visually impaired. 

3. SF 2809 (Health Benefits Election Form) 

______________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Civil Service Federal Employees Federal Employees Federal Employees 

Retirement Group Life Health Benefits Retirement 

 System Insurance Program System
Shipping and Packing 

Printing contractors will continue to use color-coded shipping labels to 

distinguish between FEHB Guides (goldenrod) and plan brochures (pink). 

FEHB Guides and plan brochures will be packaged in groups of 25 and boxed at 

up to 250 items per container. 

FEHB GUIDES 

 Names and Numbers

1. 2001 Guide to Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans for Federal 

Civilian Employees (RI 70-1). This Guide is the one most employees use. 

The rates shown are the enrollee's share of the biweekly and monthly 

premiums. [The corresponding Guide for Postal employees is RI 70-2.] 

2. 2001 Guide to Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans for TCC and 

Former Spouse Enrollees (RI 70-5). This Guide shows the monthly 

premiums for Spouse Equity enrollees (total premium) and Temporary 

Continuation of Coverage (TCC) enrollees (total premium plus 2 percent 

administrative add-on). 

3. 2001 Guide to Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans for Certain 

Temporary Employees-those eligible to enroll in FEHB under 5 U.S.C. 

8906a (RI 70-8). This Guide shows the full biweekly and monthly premiums 

(without a Government contribution) for eligible temporary employees. 

How Do We Get the Guides? 

We will arrange to have supplies of the FEHB Guides shipped to your 

designated shipping points. 

In addition, you can download and print all of the FEHB Guides from our FEHB 

web site: www.opm.gov/insure. 

How Many Guides Do We Get? 

Federal employees have been accessing Open Season materials from our web 

site in increasing numbers in recent years. Many enrollees now tell us they rely 

totally on electronic information when making open season decisions. Thus, as 

announced in BAL 00-401, you will receive an amount of RI 70-1 and RI 70-8 

equal to 25% of your agency’s population, unless you request a smaller amount. 

We understand that some agencies require a wider distribution of printed 

2 
3

material. In those cases, we will work with you to make additional printed 

copies available. Call (202) 606-0623 for more information on how to order 

additional printed copies. 

We will print the RI 70-5 in the same quantities as in the past (an amount equal 

to 111 % of your agency's TCC and Spouse Equity population). 

What Should We Do with the Guides? 

Since the RI 70-1 and RI 70-8 will not be printed in sufficient quantities to give 

a personal copy to each employee, you must notify employees of the availability 

of these Guides before open season begins. You should give employees the 

name of an agency person to contact to get copies of the guides, if they are 

considering making a change during open season and don’t wish to access the 

guides on our web site. 

PLEASE NOTE: To help you easily distinguish between the Guides, RI 70-

5 (for TCC/Spouse Equity enrollees) and RI 70-8 (for temporary employees) 

will be different colors. RI 70-5 will be printed on light green paper, and RI 

70-8 will be printed on buff paper. 

You should hold a quantity of RI 70-1 and RI 70-8 in reserve for use during 

calendar year 2001. Throughout the year, you must give the appropriate FEHB 

Guide to new employees and others who become eligible to participate in the 

FEHB Program. 

You are responsible for distributing RI 70-5 to the Spouse Equity and TCC 

enrollees whose enrollments you maintain. (Those agencies for which the 

National Finance Center maintains these accounts do not have this 

responsibility). 

Can We Order More? 

You can order limited additional quantities after January 1, 2001. Only agency 

headquarters Insurance Officers can submit a request for additional Guides. We 

will not fill a request from an agency field office. 

Fax your request to: OPM/RIS, Forms Analysis and Design, Room 4H28, 

ATTN: RI-[insert the number of the Guide being ordered]. The FAX number is 

(202) 606-0910. 

Be sure to include the shipping address and an agency contact and telephone 

number. 
4

PLAN BROCHURES 

 All Plan brochures are available for downloading from the FEHB web site: 

www.opm.gov/insure. Please encourage your employees to use the web site as their 

primary resource. 

How Do We Get Fee-for-Service Plan Brochures? 

Fee-for-service plans will ship a supply of their brochures to each of your 

designated distribution points. 

How Do We Get Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Plan Brochures? 

You must order HMO brochures directly from the plans. We will provide you 

with a list of plan contacts for this purpose in a later BAL. 

The personnel official designated for each agency installation must determine 

the number of employees working at or serviced by the installation who are 

eligible to enroll in each HMO, i.e., the number of employees located in the 

plan's service area. The installation must then contact each plan in its area and 

provide the plan with: 

1. A conservative estimate of the number of eligible employees. (Be 

sure to include Spouse Equity and TCC enrollees in this estimate.) 

 

 2. The address to which the plan should ship the brochures. 

The plan will then ship a supply of brochures directly to the installation. 

How Do We Get Brochures for Plans with a Point of Service Product? 

Fee-for-service plans with a point of service product will ship a supply of their 

brochures to each of your designated distribution points. 

For HMOs with a point of service product, you must order plan brochures 

directly from the plans as described above. 

How Many Brochures Do We Get? 

Fee-for-service plans will get a distribution list that shows the quantity they 

are to ship to each distribution point (generally 15 % of the eligible FEHB 

population). 

Agencies order HMO (and HMO point of service) brochures directly from the 

plans. The plans will compute a quantity equal to 15 % of the number of 
5

eligible employees and will send that number to each agency. 

What Should We Do with Them? 

Each employee currently enrolled will receive a brochure directly from his/her 

plan. 

You must keep a supply of brochures on hand for reference and for 

distribution to employees who decide to enroll or change plans. These 

brochures must be readily accessible to employees. 

Maintain close control over issuing plan brochures. Employees should be 

allowed to take copies home for review. If an employee enrolls or changes 

health plans, he/she should keep the brochure for that plan. The employee 

must promptly return other brochures to the personnel office. 

Wherever possible, you must give your Spouse Equity and TCC enrollees the 

same access to brochures as employees. Tell your Spouse Equity and TCC 

enrollees how to obtain brochures and SF 2809 enrollment forms if they are 

interested in changing plans. If the employing office maintaining the 

enrollment can't fill a request for a brochure, (e.g., if the enrollee lives in an 

area not served by the plans for which the employing office has brochures) the 

employing office should tell the individual to call the plan at the telephone 

number listed in the FEHB Guide. 

How Do We Order More Brochures? 

You must request additional brochures directly from the plans. 

MATERIAL FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED 

What Is Available? 

1. 2001 Guide to Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans for Federal 

Civilian Employees (RI 70-10). The content in this Guide is the same as in 

RI 70-1, but it is printed in large type on 11" x 17" paper. 

2. 2001 fee-for-service plan cassette tapes for visually impaired employees. 

These are tone-indexed cassette tapes of the brochures for the open fee-forservice plans. 

3. All of the information in the FEHB Guides, as well as each health plan 
6

brochure, is available on the FEHB web site in electronic formats suitable for 

the visually impaired. 

How Do We Get RI 70-10? 

OPM will arrange to have supplies of RI 70-10 shipped to your headquarters 

distribution points based on the quantities indicated by headquarters Insurance 

Officers. This amount should be sufficient for open season use, as well as for 

distribution to visually impaired employees who become eligible to enroll during 

2001. 

Agency headquarters Insurance Officers may order additional copies by calling 

(202) 606-0623. Be sure to include the shipping address and an agency contact 

and telephone number. 

How Do We Get Cassette Tapes? 

You must order cassette tapes directly from the open fee-for-service plans. A list 

of plan contacts to use for ordering the tapes is attached. 

 Agency Responsibilities 

All Federal agencies at the headquarters and installation levels must take steps 

to seek out visually impaired employees and to let them know that the largeprint FEHB Guide, the cassette tapes, and the FEHB web site are available. 

SF 2809 (HEALTH BENEFITS ELECTION FORM) 

 Ordering SF 2809 

You must order the SF 2809 from General Services Administration (GSA) 

supply centers, just as you order any other OPM-issued Standard Forms, using 

the normal FEDSTRIP/MILSTRIP procedures. Contact your purchasing or 

acquisitions office for your agency's procedures. The SF 2809 should also be 

available from GSA Customer Service Centers. 

The SF 2809 is not available from OPM; however it is available on our web 

site: www.opm.gov/insure/health/sf2809.htm. 

If your employees have access to Employee Express to make open season 

changes, you should keep this in mind when determining how large a supply of 

the SF 2809 you need to order. 
7

 What Should We Do with the Form? 

You must keep sufficient quantities of the SF 2809 available to handle 

employee requests, both during open season and throughout the year. You 

must give the form to employees and Spouse Equity and TCC enrollees who 

are enrolled in plans that will not be participating in the FEHB Program in 

2001. 

PREMIUMS 

OPM announces premium changes each year in a news release. Agency payroll 

offices, however, must not use these rates to update their payroll systems. OPM's 

Office of Systems, Finance, and Administration will issue a Payroll Office Letter 

(POL) giving the official enrollee withholding rates and Government contribution rates 

and other information relevant to payroll offices. The POL will also provide agencies 

with information on obtaining a PC-compatible floppy disk containing the 2001 FEHB 

rates.

 

 Abby L. Block, Chief 

 Insurance Policy 

 and Information Division 

Attachment 

 
8

PLAN CONTACTS FOR ORDERING AUDIO CASSETTE TAPES 

PLAN CONTACT PHONE FAX

Alliance Cal Foster (202) 939-6369 (202) 939-6389 

APWU Carrol Midgett (301) 622-5554 (301) 622-5591 

BC/BS Paula Spurway (202) 942-1274 (202) 942-1265 

GEHA Jane Overton (816) 257-3330 (816) 257-3233 

Mail Handlers Mary Beth Lynch (301) 517-2059 (301) 517-2127 

NALC Dave Lorenz (703) 729-4677 (703) 729-8109 

Postmasters Linda Griffin (703) 683-1664 (703) 683-2937