OPM's tips for Open Season

As the annual Federal Benefits Open Season begins, one thing is clear: while this may happen every year, this year is different.

Fourteen health plans are pulling out of the FEHBP, another 18 are lowering their coverage, and the Office of Personnel Management says that, across the board, the premiums for those plans that are left are going up an average of 8.8 percent.

Lee Dettman, Assistant Director for Insurance Services Programs, told FederalNewsRadio that this Open Season, unlike others, feds really need to do some homework.

"Unfortunately most people tend to stick with their plan unless they have a real good reason to change and I think this year, there's a real good reason to change."

Dettman encouraged feds, saying "I think if they begin to look at their benefits as a package, they can begin to see some savings."

Dettman suggested feds start the process by taking a look back over the past couple of years at services they've had and what they've paid out of pocket. Once that information is in hand, take a look at both the FEHBP plans and the dental and vision plans.

Dettman said OPM has a web-based tool to help feds compare heath plans, and a separate one to compare dental and vision plans.

Overall, there are over 200 plan choices remaining with over 100 plans. In most areas, said Dettman, most people have about 10 choices.

Most importantly, said Dettman, it's imperative that feds who are members of a plan pulling out of the program make some kind of choice.

"They definitely need to do a review of what's available to them in their area and consider both their personal and financial needs."

Vision, Dental and FSA's

"The overall average premium increase for the dental plans is going to be about 4.2 percent this year, and 2.4 for the vision plans."

The annual maximum is defined as how much a participant can spend through his or her plan before expenses become out-of-pocket.

Dettman said price increases vary from plan to plan, so you should check your current plan and look at others in order to make sure you are getting what's right for you.

"I can't give you a number because the way dental and vision premiums are set is by geographic region. . . . This is a competitive business and all of our plans in all of our programs -- FEHB, dental and vision -- are always trying to increase their market share."

This is why all plans try to expand every year.

Dettman said there were about 600,000 people in the dental plan in 2008, compared with over 813,000 in 2009.

In addition to looking at the plan itself, she added that considering an option, such as a Flexible Spending Account, might be beneficial, as well.

"Once they choose their basic health insurance plan and decide whether they need supplemental vision or dental, they really need to make a decision about whether they want to pay some of their out of pocket costs by the contributions they make to a Flexible Spending Account. Those contributions are pre-tax dollars, so that's where people can really get savings."

Dettman said OPM wants to emphasize FSA's not only for health care out of pocket costs, but also for care of dependents.

"We've always felt here at OPM that there were many employees who didn't take advantage of that pre-tax savings, especially for childcare. . . . We did a series of focus groups across the country in this past year and one of the things that we found is that employees are really not well-educated about their benefits. So, we're trying to do some things working with the HR officials at various agencies to get more information out to them."

Dettman said, in addition to OPM's own tool, there is also the Consumer's Checkbook and PlanSmartChoice.

For more on why the premiums are going up, and pointers on how to get more for your health insurance buck, see How to work around FEHBP's fewer choices and higher costs.

For more about open season options, listen to this week's For Your Benefit, with guest Walton Francis. Francis is the editor of the Checkbook Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees and an expert on Open Season. Francis says there are certain things feds should do to make sure they aren't throwing away their money.

To hear the entire interview with Lee Dettman, click on the player above, and as always, for complete coverage of your pay & benefits, follow Mike Causey's Federal Report and sign up for Mike's daily newsletter.