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Attachment 1: Inform Employees and Provide Information about 

the Federal Benefits Open Season 

COMMUNICATION

1. Build awareness of the upcoming Open Season. Employees need to know: 

 

 The dates of Open Season (November 12– December 10, 2018); 

 The Programs participating in Open Season (FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and FEHB); 

 A brief description of FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and FEHB; 

 What decisions they can/must make; 

 Where they can find additional information about the Programs; and 

 The effective date of employees’ Open Season changes. 

Start your awareness campaign early (such as the beginning of October) and follow through 

with consistent messages. 

2. Inform employees. You can do this in various ways. Here are some examples: 

 Send an email to all employees. Please include the following documents in your Open 

Season announcement. These documents, and other Open Season resources, are available 

at www.opm.gov/openseason. 

 FastFacts- provides basic information about the Federal Benefits Open Season 

 FSAFEDS Program Flyer 

 Federal Benefits Flyers - one-page summaries of the Federal Benefits Programs 

(FSAFEDS, FEDVIP dental, FEDVIP vision, FEHB Program, Federal 

Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program, and Federal Long Term 

Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP)) 

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

FEHB work together to save employees money 

 If employees don’t have easy access to the Internet, distribute the above documents as 

flyers. 

 Post Open Season notices, flyers, and banners in hallways, cafeterias, and break rooms. 

 If employees cannot access these resources from work, please distribute these links to 

them so they can view this information from home if they wish. 

 Facebook: www.facebook.com/usopm

 Twitter (News and Updates): https://twitter.com/usopm 
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 Put the dates of Open Season (November 12 – December 10, 2018) on a footer on each 

email you and your human resources office staff send to employees starting now through 

December 10, 2018 (whether the email specifically concerns Open Season or not). 

Encourage agency supervisors to do the same. Your IT staff may be able to make this 

footer automated, and apply it to only internal emails. 

 Add reminders to earnings and leave statements. 

 Publicize Open Season information on your agency’s intranet site. 

 Remind employees they will need their passwords for the BENEFEDS (FEDVIP 

enrollment website) and FSAFEDS websites. 

 If your agency uses an electronic enrollment system for FEHB enrollment changes (e.g., 

Employee Express or MyPay), remind employees they need their password to access the 

system. 

 Advise your employees who they can contact internally for help. 

3. Agency benefit officer responsibilities. It is the responsibility of the agency benefits officer at 

the headquarters level to provide Open Season information to the employees in the agency and 

guidance/information to the benefits officers in field offices. 

 If you are in a field office and you do not know who your agency benefits officer at 

the headquarters level is, please go to http://apps.opm.gov/abo. 

 Please let your employees know the dates of Open Season, how to make changes, or 

where to go if they have questions. Each year, OPM receives numerous calls and emails 

asking for this information. You must make sure Open Season information reaches 

employees. 

MATERIALS

1. Ensure you have enough Open Season material. You can find detailed information about 

Open Season and all Open Season materials at www.opm.gov/openseason. 

2. FEHB brochures. 

 The ordering deadline for paper FEHB Fee-for-Service (FFS) health plan brochures has 

passed. If you did not order paper copies of FFS health plan brochures, you can access 

these brochures at www.opm.gov/FEHBbrochures. 

 You may request FEHB health maintenance organization (HMO) or high 

deductible/consumer driven health plan (HDHP/CDHP) brochures by contacting those 

plans directly. You can find FEHB plan contact information at 

www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information/compareplans/contactsearch/index/. 
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 All health plan brochures are also available electronically at

www.opm.gov/FEHBbrochures. Please encourage employees to access plan brochures at 

this link.

 If you ordered paper copies of health plan brochures, please distribute them! Health 

plans and field offices alike report that boxes of health plan brochures go to waste 

because they are inadequately distributed once they reach your designated distribution 

points. This wastes resources and adds costs to the FEHB Program. Agency 

headquarters must ensure proper distribution of all health plan brochures that are ordered. 

3. FEDVIP brochures and FSAFEDS marketing materials.

 You may obtain FEDVIP brochures from the plans directly. You can download them 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. 

4. Significant Changes Benefits Administration Letter (BAL 18-403). Employees must be 

notified promptly when their plan either terminates from one of the Programs or reduces its 

service area. You are responsible for monitoring employees who are covered by these 

terminating plans or service area reductions with terminating enrollment codes and for following 

up with those who have not submitted a change of enrollment before the end of Open Season. 

You will receive BAL 18-403 2018 Federal Benefits Open Season: FSAFEDS, FEDVIP and 

FEHB Program Significant Changes shortly. Please distribute this BAL and the list of 

significant plan changes to all employees so they can check to see whether their plan or 

service area will continue to participate in the FEHB Program in 2019. 

OPEN SEASON FAIRS

1. Strength in numbers. Employees 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. Employees value talking with plan 

representatives face-to-face, but you must advertise the event early and often to attract as 

many employees as possible. 

2. Assure equal access for FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and FEHB plans. Open Season fairs in 

some locations – with or without agency human resources on site – are organized and hosted 

by participating FEDVIP and FEHB plans. While this circumstance may be necessary, no 

one plan can be allowed to dominate an Open Season fair to the detriment of other 

participating plans. OPM works to ensure a level playing field for FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and 

FEHB, and this spirit should prevail at Open Season fairs too.
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3. FSAFEDS. Requests for FSAFEDS marketing materials and/or participation at benefit fairs 

can now be done on the FSAFEDS website at www.fsafeds.com/toolbox/marketingmaterials, 

or www.nationsprint.com/clients/fsafedsordersystem/

4. FEDVIP and FEHB. Find plan contact information at www.opm.gov/openseason. Carrier 

representatives are expected to confine their presentations to benefit provisions and claims 

procedures of the specific plan they represent. Please note: a number of carriers participate both 

in the FEDVIP and FEHB Programs. While a single representative may distribute information 

for both programs, this information cannot be bundled or presented in such a way that the 

member is led to believe he/she is purchasing a “package deal.” 

5. Companies not approved by OPM. You may be contacted by insurance companies that do 

not participate in any of the Federal benefits programs we administer but wish to sell other types 

of “supplemental” policies to Federal employees. These companies sometimes send marketing 

material and ask that you distribute it. They may ask to be invited to the agency’s benefit fairs or 

even show up uninvited. 

OPM has no authority to allow or disallow participation in agency Open Season benefit fairs. 

However, we are not in favor of allowing these companies to attend because it may dilute the 

messages of the Federal Benefits Open Season. Employees may interpret their participation as 

evidence your agency supports their product or that it has the backing of the Federal 

Government. For these reasons, you may wish to limit access to your premises to plans that 

actually participate in FEDVIP or FEHB and representatives of FSAFEDS and FLTCIP. 

6. FLTCIP: Although FLTCIP does not participate in the annual Open Season, employees can 

apply for coverage at any time using the full underwriting application. You may wish to include 

information on the Program at your benefits fairs. Please contact Long Term Care Partners, the 

administrator of FLTCIP, at materials@ltcpartners.com to request materials and/or participation 

at your benefits fair. If you have questions, please contact your FLTCIP account manager 

directly by visiting www.ltcfeds.com/abo. 

7. Be supportive. Ensure your agency’s managers allow their employees time away from their 

duties to attend Open Season fairs. The fairs are an excellent source for employees to obtain the 

information necessary to make informed benefit choices. 

EMPLOYEE ENROLLMENT OPPORTUNITIES DURING OPEN SEASON

1. Enroll in FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and FEHB. 

 

 An eligible employee who is not enrolled may enroll. 

 Enrollment in FEDVIP and FEHB automatically continues year to year.

 An eligible employee who enrolls in FEDVIP cannot waive premium conversion. When 

employees enroll in FEDVIP, they agree to pre-tax deductions. 

 An eligible employee who enrolls in FEHB may waive participation in premium 

conversion; otherwise, participation in premium conversion is automatic. 
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 An eligible employee who wants an FSAFEDS account in 2019 must enroll in 

FSAFEDS during Open Season. Current participants MUST re-enroll each year if they 

want to continue participation. Enrollments DO NOT carry forward from year to year. 

2. Change enrollment or cancel enrollment in FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and FEHB

 For FSAFEDS, current participants must re-enroll if they want to participate for 2019 or 

they can choose to do nothing and their FSAFEDS coverage will end with the 2018 

Benefit Period. 

 For FEDVIP and FEHB, an enrollee may change from one plan or option to another 

or change enrollment type.

 For FEDVIP and FEHB, an enrollee may cancel his or her enrollment. Note: 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. 

There is no 5-year requirement to continue FEDVIP into retirement.

 An enrollee who currently participates in FEHB premium conversion may waive 

participation, or if he/she had previously waived premium conversion, may begin 

participation. 

3. FEGLI and FLTCIP do not participate in Open Season.

 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. Eligible employees and qualified relatives can apply for 

coverage under FLTCIP at any time using the full underwriting application. Additional 

information on both FEGLI and FLTCIP is available at www.opm.gov/insure. 

OPEN SEASON EFFECTIVE DATES

1. FSAFEDS 

 For enrollment during Open Season, the effective date is January 1, 2019. An eligible 

employee who wants an FSAFEDS account in 2019 must enroll in FSAFEDS during 

Open Season. 

2. FEDVIP

 For a new enrollment, or an enrollment change, the effective date is Tuesday, January 

1, 2019. 

 For cancellation, the effective date is December 31, 2018. 

 The plan year under FEDVIP is January 1 through December 31. 
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3. FEHB 

 From not enrolled to enrolled, the effective date is the first day of the first pay period 

that begins on or after January 1, 2019 and which follows a pay period during any part of 

which the employee is in pay status. 

o For most non-postal employees, the effective date is January 6, 2019. 

o For U.S. Postal Service employees, the effective date is January 5, 2019. 

o For compensationers under the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

(OWCP), the effective date is January 6, 2019. 

 For enrollment change, the effective date is the first day of the first pay period which 

begins on or after January 1, 2019 regardless of whether the employee is in pay status 

during the preceding pay period. 

o For most non-postal employees, the effective date is January 6, 2019. 

o For U.S. Postal Service employees, the effective date is January 5, 2019. 

o For compensationers under the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

(OWCP), the effective date is January 6, 2019. 

 For premium conversion change in election, the effective date is the first day of the 

pay period that begins on or after January 1, 2019. 

o For most non-postal employees, the effective date is January 6, 2019. 

o For U.S. Postal Service employees, the effective date is January 5, 2019. 

o For compensationers under the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

(OWCP), the effective date is January 6, 2019. 

 For cancellation, the effective date is at the end of the day before the first day of the first 

pay period that begins in 2019. 

o For most non-postal employees, the cancellation date is January 5, 2019. 

o For U.S. Postal Service employees, the cancellation date is January 4, 2019. 

o For compensationers under the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 

(OWCP), the cancellation date is January 5, 2019.