Attachment 2: Advise Employees on the Federal Benefits Programs 

Advise Employees

1. Specific Program questions. Please advise employees on questions concerning eligibility, 

premium conversion or the application of FEDVIP provisions or FEHB law and regulations to 

particular circumstances. Please inform employees who are canceling their FEHB enrollment 

that the cancellation may affect their ability to meet the 5-year requirement for continuing FEHB 

into retirement. 

2. Benefit questions. Employees should be referred to the actual FEHB or FEDVIP plan 

brochures for specific information on benefits. If the answers cannot be found in the brochure, 

instruct the employee to contact the plan directly. Do not refer employees to the plans if their 

questions concern subjects other than benefits. For FSAFEDS questions, please refer the 

employee to the FSAFEDS website, or call SHPS, the administrator of FSAFEDS, at 1-877-

372-3337. 

 

Enrollment

1. Provide information on how to enroll, change or cancel and direct the employee to the 

correct enrollment procedures for each program: 

 FEHB – Your agency’s specific enrollment portal (i.e., Employee Express, MyPay, 

EBIS, etc.) or the Health Benefits Election Form, Standard Form (SF) 2809. 

 FEDVIP – www.BENEFEDS.com –Enrolling online involves two steps. 

1. Create a BENEFEDS.com account by providing demographic and 

employment information. This is a one time action to create the employee’s 

account. 

2. Enroll. Employees may enroll in one dental plan and/or one vision plan. The 

employee must complete the enrollment section for each plan in which they 

want to enroll. 

Employees without computer access may contact BENEFEDS by phone at 1-877-888-

3337. 

If you have employees with absolutely no phone and no Internet access during all of 

Open Season, please contact us at BENEFEDSPortal@opm.gov, and we can make 

arrangements for enrollments. 

Note: Employees cannot enroll, change, or cancel their enrollment in a FEDVIP plan 

using the SF 2809 (Health Benefits Election Form) or through an agency self-service 

system such as Employee Express, PostalEase, EBIS, MyPay or Employee Personal 

Page.

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Enrollments automatically continue from year to year. FEDVIP enrollments also 

continue when enrolled employees retire. Unlike FEHB, there is no 5-year requirement 

to continue coverage into retirement. 

 FSAFEDS - www.FSAFEDS.com - or call SHPS, the administrator of FSAFEDS, at 1-

877-372-3337. Enrollment in FSAFEDS does not carry over from year to year. If 

employees want to participate in 2009, they must make a new election. 

2. Assist with the completion of Standard Form 2809 for enrolling or changing enrollment 

under the FEHB Program. This form is available as a screen-fillable Adobe Acrobat portable 

document format (PDF) file on the FEHB website at www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf2809.pdf. 

Using the free downloadable Adobe Acrobat reader employees may complete the form on the 

screen and then print it out already completed. 

 Note: Employees must have Acrobat Adobe Reader 8 or higher. 

3. Advise of specific timeframes during Open Season. 

 FEHB. Employees must submit the SF 2809 no later than close of business on 

December 8, 2008. If you have employees enrolling or changing plans or plan 

options through Employee Express, they must do so no later than December 8th at 

12 midnight, Eastern Time.

 FEDVIP. The BENEFEDS website will begin accepting Open Season changes and 

enrollments on November 10th. The BENEFEDS.com website will stop accepting 

Open Season enrollments on Monday, December 8 at 12 midnight, Eastern Time. 

Phone hours for BENEFEDS will be 8:00 am – 8:00 pm Eastern Time, Monday – Friday 

starting Monday, November 10 and ending Friday, December 5. They will not be open 

weekends during Open Season this year. On Monday, December 8 (last day of Open 

Season) they will be open from 8:00 am - 12 midnight Eastern Time. They will be open 

Veteran's Day (Tuesday, November 11), and they will be open the day after 

Thanksgiving. They are closed on Thanksgiving. 

 FSAFEDS. The FSAFEDS.com website will begin accepting Open Season 

enrollments on November 10th. The FSAFEDS.com website will stop accepting 

Open Season enrollments on Monday, December 8th at 12 midnight, Eastern Time. 

Employees can also enroll by phone at 1-877-372-3337 (TTY 1-800-952-0450). Phone 

hours for FSAFEDS are 9:00 am – 9:00 pm, Eastern Time, Monday – Friday. They will 

not be open weekends during Open Season this year. On Monday, December 8 (last day 

of Open Season) they will be open from 9:00 am – 12 midnight Eastern Time. They will 

be open Veteran’s Day (Tuesday, November 11), and they will be open the day after 

Thanksgiving from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, Eastern Time. They are closed on Thanksgiving.

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4. Advise annuitants who retire from your agency and may contact you for an SF 2809. 

 CSRS and FERS Annuitants. 

o OPM does not use the SF 2809 for annuitant Open Season changes for Civil 

Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Federal Employees Retirement System 

(FERS) annuitants. 

o Enrolled annuitants or their survivors should access Open Season Online, our 

interactive website, at www.opm.gov/retire/fehb or be directed to call Open 

Season Express at 1-800-332-9798. Instructions for using Open Season Express 

are included in the Open Season package sent to each enrolled CSRS and FERS 

annuitant before Open Season. 

o If an annuitant loses or does not receive the package, they can get one by calling 

our Retirement Information Office in the Washington, DC metropolitan area at 

202-606-0500 (TTY 202-606-0551) or outside the Washington, DC metropolitan 

area at 1-88-US-OPM-RET (1-888-767-6738 or TTY 1-800-878-5707). Those 

who have access to a TTY machine may call our toll-free Retirement Information 

Office TTY number at 1-800-878-5707. TTY customers within the local 

Washington, DC calling area must call us at 202-606-0551.

o Annuitants should always provide their CSA/CSF retirement claim number and/or 

their Social Security number when communicating with OPM for any reason.

 Other retirement systems – These annuitants should contact their retirement system for 

the proper enrollment form. 

 OWCP – Former employees receiving benefits from the Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Program (OWCP) should contact the OWCP office that maintains their 

FEHB records. 

5. Process new FEHB enrollments and enrollment changes made in conjunction with a 

Qualifying Life Event (QLE) that occurs during the Open Season period. 

 New enrollments and changes can be made as usual between the dates of November 10 

through December 8, 2008. However, these changes may have different effective dates 

than Open Season actions and should not be mistakenly identified as such.

 Whether an employee is enrolling or changing enrollment based on Open Season or a 

QLE, it is important that the correct event code be noted on the SF 2809 so that the 

correct effective date will be assigned. Please visit our website at 

www.opm.gov/insure/health/planinfo/qle.asp for QLE information. 

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