Federal employees who run a health care flexible spending account will have a new way to pay for it starting with the 2027 plan year. The Office of Personnel Management says eligible employees can select a FSAFEDS Visa FSA Card as part of their election, to pay for health care, pharmacy, dental and vision expenses at the point of sale.
A debit-style card joins the FSAFEDS menu
The announcement came with OPM’s 2026 Federal Benefits Open Season release. The agency’s highlights document for plan year 2027 puts it plainly: “New for 2027 will be the addition of the FSAFEDS Visa FSA Card for HCFSA and LEX HCFSA accounts. Participants will have the choice of the debit card or paperless reimbursement.”
Two details matter for a household budget. First, the card is a choice, not something mailed to every federal worker. OPM’s press release says participants can “choose the card or continue with paperless reimbursement.” Second, the card covers two account types only: the health care FSA (HCFSA) and the LEX HCFSA. OPM’s documents do not extend it to other FSA types.
The practical change is at the counter. Under the current reimbursement route, an employee pays a bill and then asks for money back. With the card, OPM describes payment at the point of sale for qualified expenses, which is where pharmacy, dental and vision spending tends to land.
Open Season, described below, gives an employee roughly five weeks to settle three questions: whether to enroll in an FSA at all, which of the two account types fits, and whether to take the card or stay with paperless reimbursement. The OPM documents read for this article do not state contribution limits or card fees, so those figures should come from the plan materials rather than from a news summary.
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When the decision window opens
The 2026 Federal Benefits Open Season runs from November 9 through December 14, 2026, according to OPM’s announcement. The card is described as part of the election for the 2027 benefit period, so the choice is made inside that window, not after the new year begins.
Where the pharmacy, dental and vision spending actually happens
The same Open Season also covers separate dental and vision coverage. OPM says the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) will have 11 dental carriers and 5 vision carriers offering 31 plan options for 2027: 21 dental plan options and 10 vision plan options.
That is useful context for the card because insurance and the FSA do different jobs. A FEDVIP plan pays part of a covered dental or vision claim. An FSA is the account that can cover the bills left behind. Employees weighing both are, in effect, deciding how much to prepay through payroll and how much to leave to the plan.
Matthew Kiley, OPM’s Associate Director for Healthcare and Insurance, framed Open Season in the announcement this way: “Open Season is the time to look beyond your current plan and make sure your coverage still works for you and your family.” He also said that “for the second year in a row, OPM has been able to reduce the average rate of premium increases for federal employees and annuitants.” The press release names no premium percentages, so none are repeated here.
What is not yet in the public record
The press release and highlights PDF do not carry a publication date, and neither says when cards will be mailed or how a card will be activated. They do not describe how the card is verified against qualified expenses either. Those operational details are the ones an employee will want before choosing, and OPM has not published them in the two documents reviewed.
The absence is worth tracking for a plain reason: a card changes cash flow. Reimbursement means paying first and waiting. A card means the account is drawn down at checkout, which can make a pharmacy or optical bill easier to handle but also removes the pause that reimbursement builds in.
Lining up the 2027 election before November 9
Employees can read the primary announcement on the OPM website and check with their agency benefits office about FSAFEDS enrollment. Before the window opens, it helps to total last year’s out-of-pocket pharmacy, dental and vision bills, and to decide which account type matches them.
Then compare the two payment routes side by side: the card at the register against paperless reimbursement after the fact. OPM’s own wording is that participants have a choice, so the right answer depends on how a household prefers to handle cash flow.
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This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures and dates were checked against the OPM press release and the OPM 2027 Open Season highlights document linked above.
