Let’s call him Mark.
He’s 59, with 31 years of federal service, the last twenty of them at the Denver Federal Center. He and his wife have circled a date on the calendar for next fall.
This fall, his plan’s 2027 rates came out. For the third year in a row, the number went up by double digits. His first instinct was the one most of us have: grumble, re-enroll in the same plan, and move on.
But this Open Season is different for Mark. It’s the last one he’ll go through as an employee. The plan he picks now is the plan he’ll carry into retirement, and next year he’ll pay for it out of a pension instead of a paycheck.
You may be in the same spot. You may be five years out, or already retired. Either way, this is a year to do more than re-enroll.
What OPM announced
OPM reports that the average enrollee share of FEHB premiums will rise 10.9% for 2027. That follows 13.5% in 2025 and 12.3% in 2026, making this the third double-digit increase in a row.
Open Season runs November 9 through December 14, 2026, with 118 FEHB plan options from 45 carriers.
But 10.9% is an average. Not a ceiling. Not necessarily your number. So that’s where we start.
Step 1: Find your actual number
OPM publishes every plan’s 2027 premiums, biweekly for employees and monthly for retirees. Find your plan and your enrollment type (Self Only, Self Plus One, or Self and Family), and write down two numbers: what you pay in 2026 and what you’ll pay in 2027.
Then turn it into a yearly figure. Multiply the biweekly change by 26, or the monthly change by 12.
For Mark, his share went from $400 to about $444 a month. That’s $523 more a year. Not a crisis. But it’s a real number, and it’s his, not an average.
Step 2: Compare the whole cost, not just the premium
The premium is the price of admission. What you actually pay for health care also includes deductibles, copays, and coinsurance, up to the plan’s out-of-pocket maximum.
So picture two years: an ordinary one, and a hard one. A surgery. A new diagnosis. A hospital stay. What would each plan cost you in each of those years?
Here’s how that can play out. These are made-up plans. The point is the method, not the numbers.
| Plan A (current plan) | Plan B (lower premium) | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual premium | $5,323 | $4,560 |
| Out of pocket, ordinary year | $600 | $1,500 |
| Out of pocket, hard year | $5,000 | $7,000 |
| Total, ordinary year | $5,923 | $6,060 |
| Total, hard year | $10,323 | $11,560 |
Plan B looks cheaper on the premium line. It isn’t cheaper in either year.
Sometimes the lower-premium plan really is the better deal. The point is to find out, not assume.
Step 3: Check what changed inside the plan
A plan can keep its name and still change underneath you. Before you re-enroll:
- Read the “changes for 2027” section of your plan’s brochure. Every FEHB brochure lists what’s different for the coming year.
- Check your prescriptions. Look at how each drug is covered for 2027, not just whether it’s covered. OPM points to prescription drugs, including GLP-1 medications, as one of the drivers of this year’s increase. If you take one, look closely.
- Confirm your doctors and hospitals. A lower premium doesn’t help if your specialist is out of network.
- Still working and use FSAFEDS? You have to re-enroll every year. It doesn’t carry over.
Step 4: Translate the difference into your retirement budget
Take the yearly number from Step 1 and ask a simple question: where will that money come from next year? And the year after?
While you’re working, the answer is your paycheck. That’s a little tighter this year, too. The White House has proposed a 2027 pay freeze for most civilian employees. It isn’t final until December, but if it holds, this year’s premium increase comes straight out of your take-home pay.
In retirement, the answer changes in two ways:
- Your premium comes out of your pension before the money reaches your bank account.
- It’s paid with after-tax dollars. Employees generally pay premiums pre-tax. Retirees lose that benefit, so the same premium costs more.
Even after 62, premiums are outrunning the COLA. The 2027 COLA is 3.6% for Social Security and CSRS, which works out to 2.6% for FERS retirees. The average enrollee premium is rising 10.9%, about four times as fast. If Mark were 62 with a $3,000 monthly FERS pension, his COLA would add $78 a month, and more than half of it would go to his $43.60 premium increase.
And if you retire under FERS before 62, it’s worse: your pension generally gets no COLA until you turn 62. Premiums keep rising. The pension holds still. Same pension. Smaller paycheck.
We took a longer look at that gap, with ten years of numbers, in FEHB Premiums vs. Your COLA. For this Open Season, the takeaway is simpler: put your actual 2027 premium into your retirement budget, not last year’s.
Step 5: Settle these questions before you choose
- Will you have five years of FEHB coverage when you retire? To carry FEHB into retirement, you generally need to be enrolled for the five years immediately before you retire (or since your first opportunity). Changing plans doesn’t reset that clock. Dropping coverage can.
- Covering one family member? Compare Self Plus One with Self and Family. OPM notes that in some plans, the enrollee share for Self Plus One is actually higher.
- Will your spouse need to keep this coverage after you’re gone? A surviving spouse generally needs to be receiving a survivor benefit from your pension to continue FEHB. That decision gets made at retirement, and it’s hard to undo.
- Turning 65 in the next few years? How your plan works alongside Medicare matters more than this year’s premium. Our FEHB and Medicare at 65 guide walks through that decision.
- Do you expect big medical expenses next year? A planned surgery or a new prescription can change which plan wins in Step 2.
You don’t have to sort this out alone
Most of the federal employees we sit down with aren’t short on information. They have their pension estimate, their TSP statement, and a stack of Open Season mailers. What they’re short on is a clear picture of how the pieces fit together.
At Stonebridge Capital Management, we work with federal employees along the Front Range to put those pieces side by side: your pension, your premiums, your TSP, and your Social Security. Then we test what happens when health care costs keep climbing. If you’d like to start there, our free workshops cover it, or you can contact us directly.
Before December 14
Find your number.
Compare the whole cost.
Check what changed.
Put it in your budget.
Settle the questions.
Mark has two dates circled now: December 14, and the one next fall. Do you know what this year’s choice will mean for the second one?
Calculators
FEHB vs. Medicare Part B · FERS Pension · Retirement Income · Survivor Benefit Plan
Related reading
FEHB Premiums vs. Your COLA · FEHB and Medicare at 65 · Federal Retirement
Sources
OPM Plan Year 2027 Open Season highlights · OPM 2026 Open Season announcement · OPM FEHB premiums · OPM Open Season · OPM Health insurance in retirement · OPM How the COLA is determined · Federal News Network · FEDweek · Federal News Network, 2027 pay freeze · SSA 2027 COLA announcement