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United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter 

Number: 18-402 Date: October, 2018

Subject: 2018 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 2018 Federal 

Benefits Open Season BALs. This BAL (18-402) 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. 

Based on feedback that we have received from Agency Benefit Officers, we have merged 

the former BAL 402 and BAL 403 into this single BAL 18-402. You can find previously 

issued Open Season BALs at www.opm.gov/retirement-services/publicationsforms/benefits-administration-letters. 

This year’s Federal Benefits Open Season will run from Monday, November 12 

through Monday, December 10, 2018. 

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: 

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

Benefits Open Season 

• Attachment 2: Easy to Use Chart for Ordering and Distributing Materials for 

FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and FEHB

• Attachment 3: Advise Employees on the Federal Benefits Programs

• Attachment 4: Process Enrollment Actions 

• Attachment 5: 2018 FastFacts Open Season is Coming 

• Attachment 6: 2018 FastFacts What to Consider 
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OPEN SEASON MATERIALS

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

website at https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/Guide-Me/BenefitsOfficers/Health/What-resources-are-available-to-me/#url=Health. 

You may also distribute the link to the materials to your employees on our website at 

https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/reference-materials/#url=OpenSeason. 

 

• Open Season Flyer, Poster, and Banner 

• FSAFEDS Program Flyer – explains how to enroll in FSAFEDS 

• Federal Benefits FastFacts: The 2018 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 

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

and FLTCIP)

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

work together to save employees money 

FEHB BROCHURES 

Please be aware that the deadline has now passed to order FEHB Fee-for-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 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 on-line.

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 

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 
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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 2019 plan year. 

 

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 2018 Federal Benefits Open 

Season for enrollment for the 2019 plan year. As always, we encourage you and your 

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

Sincerely,

 Alan P. Spielman

Director

Healthcare and Insurance