November 9 is the date federal employees and annuitants can start choosing their 2027 health, dental and vision coverage, and December 14 is the last day. The Office of Personnel Management states in its 2027 plan-year highlights that the Federal Benefits Open Season runs “from November 9 through December 14, 2026.” The window falls in 2026, while the coverage it sets applies to the 2027 plan year.
Five weeks, two calendar years
The easiest mistake with Open Season is to read the year on the calendar and assume the year on the plan are the same thing. They are not. Choices made between November 9 and December 14, 2026 govern coverage in 2027, and OPM’s highlights document lists when each group’s changes begin: January 1, 2027 for PSHB enrollees and annuitants, January 10, 2027 for FEHB non-Postal employees, and January 24, 2027 for FEHB compensationers.
The same document carries a cancellation deadline that sits before the window closes in any practical sense: PSHB enrollees and annuitants who cancel must act by December 31, 2026. It also says “FSAFEDS requires reenrollment each year” and does not continue on its own, so an employee who used a flexible spending account in 2026 has to sign up again to have one in 2027.
For a worker with a plan that quietly renews, that gives the whole decision a simple shape. Pick a date inside the five weeks, line up last year’s medical, dental and vision bills, and compare the 2027 premiums before the window closes on December 14. The free official route for all of it is OPM itself, and its Open Season announcement is the place to start.
Premium tables, plan changes and FSA rules for 2027 are still being absorbed by employees, and the brief covers each next development in the federal benefits story as it lands.
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What the 2027 premium figures say
OPM’s highlights document gives average premium changes for each program. In the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, the overall average premium increase for plan year 2027 is 9.3 percent, down from 10.2 percent in 2026, and the average enrollee share increase is 10.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent. In the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program, the overall increase is 6.7 percent, down from 9 percent, and the enrollee share rises 8.2 percent, down from 11.3 percent.
The dental and vision programs move much less. The overall average dental premium increase is 1.0 percent and the overall average vision premium increase is 1.6 percent.
The enrollee-share figure is the one a paycheck feels. An overall increase describes what plans charge in total; the enrollee share describes the part that comes out of the employee’s side of the bill, and in both FEHB and PSHB that number is higher than the overall figure.
Dental and vision choices, counted
OPM’s press release says the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) will have 11 dental carriers offering 21 plan options and five vision carriers offering 10 plan options. The highlights document rounds that to 31 plan options through FEDVIP, which is the 21 dental options plus the 10 vision options, so the two documents agree.
Matthew Kiley, OPM’s Associate Director for Healthcare and Insurance, said in the release: “Open Season is the time to look beyond your current plan and make sure your coverage still works for you and your family.” He added 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 release also says eligible employees can select a new FSAFEDS Visa FSA Card as part of their 2027 election. The highlights document says the card is for HCFSA and LEX HCFSA accounts and that participants choose between the debit card and paperless reimbursement.
Working through the window before December 14
Start with the plan already in place and the premium change attached to it, using the FEHB, PSHB, dental and vision averages above only as a yardstick, since an individual plan can differ from the average. Then decide whether the coverage still fits the household’s doctors, prescriptions and dental and vision use, which is the test Kiley describes. Anyone who wants a flexible spending account for 2027 should plan on enrolling again, as OPM states.
Keep the dates written down: the window opens November 9 and closes December 14, 2026, and PSHB and annuitant cancellations are due December 31, 2026. Everything above can be checked in OPM’s plan-year highlights, which is the controlling document for the dates and the percentages.
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This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures and dates were checked against the OPM 2027 Open Season highlights document and OPM press release linked above.
