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United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter 

Number: 19-402 Date: October 22, 2019

Subject: 2019 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 2019 Federal 

Benefits Open Season BALs. This BAL (19-402) provides instructions for ordering and 

distributing Open Season materials including program-specific 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 11 

through Monday, December 9, 2019. 

As a reminder, the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program and the 

Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) do not participate in the annual 

Federal Benefits Open Season.

The following attachments provide information regarding your responsibilities for the 

upcoming Federal Benefits Open Season and assistance for your employees: 

OPEN SEASON MATERIALS

The following Open Season resource materials are available to Benefits Officers on our 

website at www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/referencematerials/#url=Open-Season. You may also distribute the link to the materials to your 

employees.

• Attachment 1: Inform Employees and Provide Information about the Federal 

Benefits Open Season 

• Attachment 2: Process Enrollment Actions
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• Open Season Flyer, Poster, and Banner 

• FSAFEDS Program Flyer – explains how to enroll in FSAFEDS 

• Federal Benefits FastFacts: The 2019 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

BROCHURES 

Please be aware that the deadline has now passed to order FEHB Fee-for-Service (FFS) 

health plan brochures for plan year 2020. If you did not order a supply of FFS health plan 

brochures, you can access these brochures at www.opm.gov/FEHBbrochures. 

The Indemnity Benefit Plan will be offered in plan year 2020. OPM was not able to make 

these health plan brochures available to be ordered with other FFS brochures. Instead, you 

may request these brochures directly from the carrier by contacting Tina Braxdale at

Tina.Braxdale@GEHA.com. 

You can request HMO plan brochures directly from the health plan contacts as described 

below. Please also assist us in “going green” by encouraging your employees to access 

all FEHB brochures online. 

You may obtain 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. 

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 
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OPEN SEASON FAIRS

We continue to hear from employees that they find Open Season fairs a valuable resource 

for getting Open Season information. If your agency has a small number of employees, 

consider partnering with other agencies in your area or with a Federal Executive Board to 

host an Open Season fair. The plans in the Programs usually receive more requests to 

attend Open Season fairs than they can accommodate, so be creative. Remember to 

extend the opportunity to participate in Open Season fairs to any new plans available for 

the 2020 plan year. 

PREMIUMS

The premiums are posted on our website at www.opm.gov/healthcareinsurance/healthcare/plan-information/premiums/. 

For 2020 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. 

 

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 this person is, please go 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 2019 Federal Benefits Open 

Season for enrollment for the 2020 plan year. As always, we encourage you and your 

employees to visit our website at www.opm.gov/insure. 

Sincerely,

 Laurie Bodenheimer 

Acting Director

Healthcare and Insurance