Open Season Countdown: How to Prepare Before the Rush
Federal Benefits Open Season runs from mid-November through mid-December every year, and every year I watch the same thing happen: people wait until the first week of December, panic, and make a rushed decision, or worse, make no decision at all and let their enrollment roll over by default. That default rollover is the single most expensive habit in federal benefits, and you can avoid it with a little preparation now.
We’re still weeks away from Open Season officially opening, which is exactly why this is the right time to talk about it. The work that makes for a good Open Season decision doesn’t happen during Open Season. It happens in the weeks beforehand, when you’re not staring down a deadline.
Why the Default Rollover Costs You
If you do nothing during Open Season, your FEHB or PSHB enrollment automatically continues into the next plan year at the new premium. That sounds harmless, but it isn’t. Plans change their benefits, formularies, provider networks, and cost-sharing structures every single year.
The plan that was the best value for your family this year may be a poor fit next year, and the premium you’re comfortable with today may jump considerably. Rolling over without checking means you’re betting that nothing important changed, and something almost always changes.
I’ve heard from readers who rolled over the same plan for a decade out of habit, only to discover they’d been overpaying by well over a thousand dollars a year and more compared to a plan that would have served them just as well. That’s real money, and it compounds every year you don’t check.
Build Your Open Season Folder Now
Here’s what I do every fall, and what I’d recommend you start assembling now, before the rush:
Gather last year’s actual medical spending. Pull your Explanation of Benefits statements and add up what you truly spent out of pocket, deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and prescriptions. This is the single most useful number you can bring into an Open Season decision.
List every prescription your household takes regularly. You’ll want to check each one against the formulary of any plan you’re considering, because a drug that’s cheap on one plan can be expensive or excluded on another. I’ve run into this firsthand on many occasions.
Note any known medical needs for next year. A planned surgery, a new diagnosis, a pregnancy, a child aging off your coverage, or a spouse becoming Medicare-eligible all change the calculation. An excellent example is joint replacement surgery; many older retirees experience this, and costs can vary widely between providers.
Write down your current plan name, option, and enrollment code. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know which plan they’re in until they go looking. Each provider offers a multitude of options; which one are you in?
Understand What You’re Actually Comparing
When the plan brochures and premium tables come out in October, the headline premium number is only part of the story, and often the least important part. What matters is your total expected annual cost: premiums plus your realistic out-of-pocket spending for the year. A plan with a higher premium but a lower deductible and better prescription coverage can easily cost you less overall than a cheaper-premium plan, depending on how much care your household actually uses.
That is why last year’s spending number matters. It lets you estimate your real total cost under each plan you’re considering, rather than being fooled by the premium alone. A low premium on a plan that leaves you exposed to high out-of-pocket costs is not a bargain if your family requires a lot of care.
Don’t Forget the Coordinated Decisions
Open Season isn’t just FEHB. It’s also your opportunity to enroll in or change FEDVIP dental and vision coverage, and to elect or adjust your Flexible Spending Account contributions for the coming year. These decisions interact. If you’re picking up a dental-heavy year such as braces for your children, or a major vision expense, that affects both your FEDVIP choice and how much you might set aside in an FSA. Think of Open Season as a single coordinated planning session, not four separate errands.
For those approaching Medicare eligibility, this is also the season to think hard about how FEHB and Medicare will work together for you. That’s a big enough topic to deserve its own careful look, but the point for now is simple: don’t let those two decisions collide unplanned during the December rush.
A Simple Timeline to Follow
Here’s the cadence I’d suggest. In the next few weeks, assemble your Open Season folder as described above. In early October, when premiums and brochures are released, review the numbers and identify two or three candidate plans. In mid-to-late November, once Open Season opens, do your final comparison and make your election early. Then confirm your election was recorded. Never assume, always confirm.
The Bottom Line
Open Season rewards the prepared and punishes the passive. The default rollover is comfortable, but comfort is exactly what costs federal employees and annuitants year after year. Spend an hour now assembling your spending history, your prescription list, and your known needs for next year, and you’ll walk into Open Season ready to make a confident, money-saving decision instead of a rushed one. I’ll be here through the whole season with the numbers and the plan-by-plan breakdowns as they’re released.
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Dennis V. Damp is an author, retired federal manager, business owner, career counselor and veteran. Damp is the author of 28 books, a recognized benefits expert, and a retired federal manager with 35 years’ service. Dennis has been a guest on hundreds of radio talk shows, CNN’s YOUR MONEY and the Lou Dobbs Cable TV shows, lectured at universities and colleges, produced Internet web sites and training videos, and has written hundreds of articles for national magazines and newspapers. His books have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times and U.S. News & World Report.
Dennis joined the Air Force in 1968 and spent over three years on active duty and an additional seven years with the Air National Guard. He was hired by the Department of Defense (DOD) after leaving active duty and transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1975. He spent the remainder of his career in various positions with the FAA. His last position was technical operations manager at the Pittsburgh International Airport’s air traffic control tower.
