Federal employees who want a flexible spending account in 2027 have to sign up again. The Office of Personnel Management says participation in FSAFEDS, the federal FSA program, does not automatically continue from year to year, and current participants must re-enroll for Benefit Year 2027. The window is Open Season, which runs November 9 to December 14, 2026.
What OPM says about FSAFEDS
OPM’s 2027 Open Season highlights are blunt: “Participation in FSAFEDS does not automatically continue from year to year.” Anyone who had an account in 2026 and wants one in 2027 has to elect it again, and elections, re-enrollments and changes made in Open Season take effect January 1, 2027. The program is for active employees only.
That is different from a federal health insurance plan. Enrollment in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program does carry over if you make no change, which is why some employees assume the FSA works the same way. It does not.
The deadline
OPM’s Open Season page sets the cutoff for FSAFEDS and for the FEDVIP dental and vision plans at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, December 14, 2026. Open Season itself starts November 9, and FSAFEDS has told participants on its website to confirm they can log in before then. An employee who misses the cutoff has no FSAFEDS account for 2027.
The question most employees have is whether they have to do anything or whether the account rolls over. They do have to act, once, during those five weeks, by electing a health care FSA, a limited-expense FSA or a dependent care FSA, whichever fits their year. The FSAFEDS site lists all three account types.
The numbers that will move in this story are the Open Season dates and the 2027 FEHB premiums, FEDVIP rates and FSA limits that OPM and FSAFEDS post as Open Season starts, and they change once a year.
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The new FSAFEDS card
OPM says 2027 brings a new way to pay: an FSAFEDS Visa FSA card for the health care FSA and the limited-expense health care FSA. Participants can choose the debit card or paperless reimbursement. OPM describes the card as pulling money straight from the account when it is used for eligible expenses, with transactions and balances shown in the FSAFEDS mobile app. The highlights document does not say the card covers a dependent care account.
FSAFEDS says on its site that the card is issued by The Bancorp Bank, N.A., works wherever Visa debit cards are accepted for qualified health expenses, and cannot be used at ATMs, for cash back, or at gas stations, restaurants or other non-health businesses. OPM says the debit card is offered beginning with the upcoming Open Season, but neither OPM nor FSAFEDS has published the date the card will ship or become usable. The FSAFEDS site says more details are coming.
Other Open Season numbers
FSAFEDS is one piece of the same event. OPM’s highlights list 118 health plan options from 45 carriers for 2027 under FEHB. The agency’s premium page lists 2027 rates for the health plans, including a biweekly average of $1,171.97 for Self and Family coverage, of which the government pays $843.82 and the enrollee about $328.15.
Three jobs for a federal employee this Open Season
The first is the FSA election, because it is the one that does not carry over. Decide how much of your 2027 medical, dental and vision costs you expect, elect an amount, and enroll before 11:59 p.m. on December 14. Look at 2026 receipts to see what you actually spent. The FSAFEDS site has calculators for estimating contributions.
The second is your health plan. Your FEHB plan continues if you do nothing, but premiums and benefits change every year, so compare the 2027 brochures for your plan and one or two alternatives on OPM’s Open Season page before choosing to stay. The third is dental and vision, which also close on December 14.
If you used an FSA in 2026, check your balance and any claims still pending before the year ends, since you will be setting up a fresh account for 2027 rather than continuing the old one. Gather your recent medical, dental, vision and prescription receipts, add up the costs you can predict, such as glasses, dental work and regular prescriptions, and pick an amount you are confident you will spend. The election is the number that comes out of each paycheck, so a careful estimate matters more than a large one.
Put the dates on your calendar now: November 9 to open, December 14 to close, and January 1 for the new year’s elections to take effect.
More Financial Reading
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- 17 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 22 Ways Retirees Can Raise $1,000 Fast Without a Job
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
