The Office of Personnel Management just released a letter that said this year’s open season for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program will run from Monday, Nov. 8 through Monday, Dec. 13. Federal employees will be able to select their health, dental and vision insurance plans and enroll in a Flexible Spending Account between those dates.
Anyone already enrolled in a health, dental or vision plan will stay enrolled in their current plan unless they choose to change or cancel it. But Flexible Spending Accounts don’t carry over from one year to another — enrollees must set up an account again if they want to keep directing pretax money to an account used to pay for medical and other expenses.
What’s that you say? Wasn’t OPM going to simplify the open season schedule beginning this year so it runs along the easy-to-remember dates of Nov. 1 to Nov. 30? Well, that’s still in the works, apparently. The April 19 draft regulation changing the schedule hasn’t yet been finalized. And OPM said that once it is approved, the simplified schedule will take effect next year.
No Comments
Does this mean that retiree’s are able to have a Flexible Spending Account? If so, how do we apply?