United States Office of Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency 

Benefits Administration Letter 

Number: 21-402 Date: October 7, 2021 

Subject: 2021 Federal Benefits Open Season: 

Ordering and Distributing Materials and Conducting 

the Open Season 

This Benefits Administration Letter (BAL) is the second in our series of 2021 

Federal Benefits Open Season BALs. This BAL (21-402) provides instructions 

for ordering and distributing Open Season materials including programspecific materials for the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program 

(FSAFEDS), Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program 

(FEDVIP), and Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. This BAL 

also provides instructions on conducting the Federal Benefits Open Season. 

This year’s Federal Benefits Open Season will run from Monday, 

November 8 through Monday, December 13, 2021. 

The following attachments provide information regarding your 

responsibilities for the upcoming Federal Benefits Open Season and 

assistance for your employees: 

• Attachment 1: Inform Employees and Provide Information about the 

Federal Benefits Open Season 

• Attachment 2: Process Enrollment Actions 

Open Season Materials 

The following Open Season resource materials will be available to Benefits 

Officers on our website. You may also distribute the link to the materials to 

your employees. 
Benefits Administration Letter 21-402

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• Open Season Flyer, Poster, and Banner

• FSAFEDS Program Flyer – explains how to enroll in FSAFEDS

• Federal Benefits FastFacts: The 2021 Federal Benefits Open Season is

Coming! - provides a snapshot of basic information on Open Season

• Federal Benefits FastFacts: What to Consider During the Federal

Benefits Open Season - provides a step-by-step process of what to

consider during Open Season

• Federal Benefits Flyers - one-page summary of the Federal Benefits

Programs

• Save Money On... Flyers - these flyers show how FSAFEDS, FEDVIP,

and FEHB work together to save employees money

• Inform Employees and Provide Information about the Federal Benefits

Open Season

• Process Enrollment Actions

In addition, information on types of plans available in the FEHB Program is 

on our website. 

Brochures 

Please assist us in “going green” by encouraging your employees to access all 

FEHB brochures online. 

All FEHB and FEDVIP brochures are available on the OPM website in a 

Section 508-compliant format. Individuals may download a PDF version of 

the brochure for printing, if desired. 

Please be aware that the deadline has now passed to order print FEHB Feefor-Service (FFS) health plan brochures. If you did not order a supply of FFS 

health plan brochures, you can access these brochures at 

www.opm.gov/FEHBbrochures. 

You can request print HMO plan brochures directly from the health plan 

contacts as described above. 

You may obtain print FEDVIP brochures from the FEDVIP plans directly. You 

can also download the brochures and find FEDVIP plan contact information 

by going to www.opm.gov/fedvip and selecting “Plan Information” on the left 

of the page. 

You may obtain FSAFEDS marketing materials at www.FSAFEDS.com. 
Benefits Administration Letter 21-402

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Plan Contacts 

Plan contact information for items listed below are available on our website 

at www.opm.gov/plancontacts. 

• FEDVIP Plan Contacts for Requesting Brochures and Organizing Open

Season Fairs

• FEHB Plan Contacts for Requesting HMO Brochures

• FEHB Plan Contacts Regarding Enrollment

• FEHB Plan Contacts for Ordering Materials for the Visually Impaired

• FEHB Plan Contacts for Organizing Open Season Fairs

Health Fairs

Contact the individual FEHB Carriers to request their participation in health 

fairs (in-person or virtual) you may be hosting. Plan contacts for health fairs 

are available at www.opm.gov/plancontacts. 

Public Use Files 

The purpose of the OPM FEHB and FEDVIP Plan and Benefits Information 

(PBI) Public Use Files (PUFs) is to provide agencies with detailed information 

on FEHB and FEDVIP plans in Excel format, including information on rates 

and benefits. This data will be available for download in October. Please visit 

www.opm.gov/puf to access the data files. 

The PUFs are designed for agency system use. Please direct your employees 

to the Plan Comparison Tool or the Plan Information pages. 

Premiums 

FEHB and FEDVIP premiums will be posted on our website in October. 

For 2022 there are several FEHB choices where the enrollee share of 

premiums for the Self Plus One enrollment type will be higher than for the 

Self and Family enrollment type. Enrollees who wish to cover one eligible 

family member are free to elect either the Self and Family or Self Plus One 

enrollment type. Enrollees should carefully check the rates of their current 

plan and any other plan options they are considering. If the Self and 

Family enrollee premium is less expensive, they may want to choose that 

enrollment type. 
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Benefits Administration Letter 21-402

FSAFEDS 

Current Participants Must Re-Enroll to Participate in 2022 

Participants must re-enroll each year to continue participation. Enrollments 

do not carry forward from year to year. 

New Eligible Expenses 

Over-the-counter drugs and medicine are now eligible for reimbursement 

without a prescription from a physician. Face masks and hand sanitizer (with 

60%+ alcohol base) are now eligible expenses. 

New Employees 

Employees have 60 days from the hire date to enroll but must enroll before 

October 1 or wait until the Federal Benefits Open Season. 

Minimums and Maximums for the 2022 Benefit Period 

• The maximum annual election for a Health Care Flexible Spending

Account and the Limited Expense Health Care Flexible Spending

Account is $2,750.

• The minimum election for all FSAFEDS accounts is $100.

• The maximum annual election for a Dependent Care Flexible Spending

Account is $5,000 per household.

Please Note: Recent legislation allows carry over of all remaining funds in a 

participant’s 2021 Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HCFSA) or Limited 

Expense Health Care Flexible Spending Account (LEX HCFSA) when they reenroll in the same account(s) in 2022. For the 2022 Plan Year, the 

carryover and grace period are as follows: 

$550 Carryover for HCFSA and LEX HCFSA 

The maximum dollar amount of unspent 2022 funds that participants can 

carry into the following year (2023) is $550. This applies only to HCFSA and 

LEX HCFSA and requires that a participant re-enroll in either account the 

following year. 

Dependent Care Grace Period 

A grace period of 2.5 months is allowed only in DCFSAs. Participants in a 

DCFSA with funds remaining at the end of 2022 may use the funds to incur 

eligible expenses from January 1, 2023 to March 15, 2023. 

Use or Lose 

Participants forfeit (lose) any amount above the carry over threshold ($550) 

in their HCFSA or LEX HCFSA for which a claim is not incurred on or before 

December 31, 2022 and submitted no later than April 30, 2023. Participants 
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Benefits Administration Letter 21-402

forfeit (lose) any unused balance in a DCFSA for which a claim is not 

incurred on or before March 15, 2023 and submitted no later than April 30, 

2023.

For more information visit www.FSAFEDS.com. 

Additional Information 

If you are not already receiving the Benefits Info Listserv, please subscribe 

by sending an email to BenefitsInfo@listserv.opm.gov. In the body of the 

email, please indicate that you would like to be added to the listserv and 

include your first and last name. 

If you have specific questions about the Federal Benefits Open Season, 

please contact your agency’s benefits officer. If you do not know who the 

benefits officer is, please refer to http://apps.opm.gov/abo where you will 

find a list of agencies and their headquarters-level benefits officers. 

We look forward to working with you in the upcoming 2021 Federal Benefits 

Open Season for enrollment for the 2022 plan year. As always, we 

encourage you and your employees to visit our website at 

www.opm.gov/insure. 

Sincerely, 

Laurie Bodenheimer 

Associate Director 

Healthcare and Insurance