United States 

 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 14-213 Date: December 30, 2014

Subject: Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program: Self Plus One Enrollment

Purpose 

The purpose of this letter is to provide guidance regarding the new enrollment type, Self Plus 

One, under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. This letter outlines agency 

responsibilities for systems changes necessary for implementing the Self Plus One enrollment 

type. 

The effective date for the new Self Plus One enrollment type will be January, 2016. Therefore, 

the annual Open Season beginning on November 9, 2015 will include the Self Plus One 

enrollment type in the available enrollment choices.

Our initial Benefits Administration Letter (BAL) 14-203 on the FEHB Program Self Plus One 

Enrollment was published on March 24, 2014 and is available at www.opm.gov/retirementservices/publications-forms/benefits-administration-letters/2014/14-203.pdf. 

In order to accept and process the Self Plus One enrollment type, agency systems must be 

updated as follows: 

Electronic enrollment systems: 

 Self-service systems that allow Qualifying Life Event (QLE) changes outside of open 

season must be updated to allow appropriate changes to Self Plus One. 

 Self-service systems must be updated to allow changes to the family member data in a 

Self Plus One enrollment when there is no change in the enrollment code. 

 Self Plus One must allow only one family member to be entered. 

All systems: 

 Databases, fields and files must accept, process, transmit and/or display the numerals 3 

and 6 in the 3rd position of the enrollment code field. 

 Databases, fields and files that contain and/or pass premium amounts must be updated to 

accommodate the Self Plus One premium.
2

OPM has estimated that approximately 30 percent of the FEHB enrollments are Family 

enrollments with only one family member. Thus, there may be as many as one million changes to 

the Self Plus One enrollment type. Agencies whose systems are not ready to process Self Plus 

One enrollments risk delays in the processing of I.D. cards and claims processing, as well as lost 

forms and changes not being processed. 

For those agencies that transmit enrollment information to the OPM-Macon Data Hub, the 

agency flat file FEHB Data Hub SF 2809 must be updated for Self Plus One enrollment code in 

field 23 of the file layout as the Data Hub system transmits the enrollment code to the Carrier. 

Please ensure that your internal system will successfully transmit the new Self Plus One codes to 

the Data Hub. The OPM-Macon Data Hub will conduct testing for the FEHB Data Hub SF 2809

file in the Spring of 2015. Additional information on the testing will be released at a later date. 

To ensure a smooth transition to a three tiered enrollment model, OPM recommends that a 

comprehensive end to end testing plan is developed for all systems that contain enrollment codes 

and/or premium data. 

Please complete the attached status report (Attachment 1) and return to selfplusone@opm.gov by 

January 31, 2015. 

In addition, OPM is researching the impact of notifying Carriers electronically when there is an 

addition or deletion of family members under a Self and Family enrollment. To assist OPM, 

please complete Attachment 2 and submit to selfplusone@opm.gov by January 31, 2015. 

Conclusion 

Agencies and payroll offices must ensure their systems will be able to process the Self Plus One 

enrollments for the 2015 Open Season which begins November 9, 2015. All enrollment systems, 

policies, procedures, and instructions must be updated to include the Self Plus One enrollment 

type. In addition, all testing must be completed no later than September 1, 2015 to ensure 

implementation. Information concerning which QLEs are affected by the Self Plus One 

enrollment code will be released at a later date. 

Questions 

Should you have any questions, please email selfplusone@opm.gov. 

 

 Sincerely, 

 John O’Brien 

 Director Healthcare and Insurance