Benefits Guide Helps Decode Alphabet Soup

The annual open-enrollment season for federal employees is on its way, loaded with insurance industry argot and acronym-laden programs.

For the first time, the open season is no longer just about health insurance, but also about how to mix and match dental and vision coverage and flexible spending accounts. It's the world of FFS, CDHP, FEDVIP and HCFSA, to name a few.

To help federal employees navigate the jargon, the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the government's major benefits programs, will publish a "Guide to Federal Benefits" before the enrollment season, which is Nov. 12 through Dec. 10.

Many federal employees and retirees will probably need a bureaucratic decoder to help them wade through health insurance brochures and other benefit information.

They can choose from fee-for-service plans (FFS) with preferred-provider networks, consumer-driven health plans (CDHP), high-deductible health plans (HDHP) with health savings accounts and health maintenance organizations (HMOs).

They can pick from seven dental plans, three vision plans (in the FEDVIP program) and set up flexible spending accounts for health care (HCFSA) and dependent care (DCFSA), which includes coverage for children and parents.

The key, of course, is to avoid MEGO (my eyes glaze over) during open season, because it pays to do your benefits homework.

Some programs and plans offer tax breaks, some have slightly more-generous benefits, and some have restrictions that can financially penalize patients who go outside their health-care provider network.

The OPM guide may be the best starting place. It will explain the relationship among the programs, provide information on making enrollment decisions and remind employees of what they need to do during the open season, officials said.

The guide also will include information on two programs that are not part of the annual enrollment process -- the life insurance and long-term care insurance programs.

The benefit programs try to use the government's size, and clout, to hold down premiums and other costs paid by employees.

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which began operating in 1960, is the world's largest single employer sponsored plan, covering about 8 million Americans. The dental-vision benefits program, in its second year, has 750,000 enrollees, making it the nation's largest employer-sponsored dental-vision program.