Veterans Day marked the beginning of the 2020 TRICARE and FEDVIP Open Season, which will continue through Dec 9. Any changes or additions to your current TRICARE or FEDVIP coverage will go into effect on Jan 1, 2020.   

Happy with your current TRICARE and FEDVIP benefits? Then no action is required on your part – you’ll remain in and with those same programs/providers in 2020.

TRICARE

Want to switch from TRICARE Prime to TRICARE Select or vice versa? Interested in a U.S. Family Healthcare Plan (USFHP)? Want to change to a different military treatment facility in your area? If you desire those types of changes, then action is required. You need to contact your Regional TRICARE Contractor or USFHP facilitator to change plans. Contact information for those companies can be found here.

TRICARE fees for 2020 were released in early November and can be found here. TRICARE Prime enrollment fees will increase 1%, while TRICARE Select deductibles and the catastrophic cap will remain unchanged at $150 individual/$300 family and $3,000, respectively. However, TRICARE Select co-pays will increase from $1 to $7 depending on the class of care (primary, specialty, urgent, or emergency room). Those increases, from 3.4% to 9.8%, represent significant increases compared to our 2020 COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) of 1.6%.    

FEDVIP

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released calendar year 2020 Federal Employee Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) pricing in early October. Plan comparisons and pricing are now available on the www.benefeds.com website using the FEDVIP comparison tool. Even if you were happy with your current plan, I strongly encourage you to check how much your dental and/or vision plan will cost in 2020 to ensure you are comfortable with those increases (if applicable).

[RELATED: FEDVIP Tips: 5 Ways to Avoid Headaches This Open Season]

Overall, FEDVIP dental rates will rise by an average of 5.6% for 2020; vision premiums will increase an average of 1.5%. The change in dental premiums ranges widely by location – a 5.9% drop in some areas, up to a 9.5% increase in others. OPM states that two primary factors drove increases this year; the health care insurance providers’ fee, which had been suspended in 2019 but reinstated in 2020, and an increase in utilization of services in a number of dental plans.   

MOAA Premium and Life members can email questions about open enrollment or other benefits programs to our benefits counselors, though we can’t recommend specific insurance providers. Get more information on TRICARE and other health benefits here.