TRICARE and FEDVIP Open Season 2026 for Military Retirees and Their Families

Open season starts Monday, November 9. It's the one stretch of the year when a retiree can move between TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select, add or drop family coverage, or pick up dental and vision without a life event to justify it. Miss it and you're locked into whatever you have until next November, unless something like a move or a new baby opens a window.

Most people don't need to do anything. If you're happy with your plan it rolls into 2027 on its own. But two deadlines run at the same time, and they aren't the same day, and the 2027 TRICARE fees still aren't posted as I write this. So this covers what you can change and what it costs, then how to pick between Prime and Select by looking at the worst year your family could have.

TRICARE doesn't publish a cutoff time for December 8, so don't leave it for that night. DoD's Federal Register notice gives December 7 for FEDVIP, but OPM, which runs FEDVIP, says December 14, and so does TRICARE's own open season page.

Who Open Season Is For

TRICARE Open Season is for anyone who has or can get TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select. That's retirees and their families, active duty families, and anyone in a Prime option like the US Family Health Plan or the TRICARE Prime Demo. A lot of people assume it covers every TRICARE plan, and it doesn't.

That list comes straight from TRICARE's open season page. If you're over 65 on TRICARE For Life, the only thing on this calendar for you is FEDVIP.

What You Can Change in TRICARE

During open season you can do any of these.

• Stay put. You don't reenroll. Your plan continues as long as you're eligible.
• Enroll. If you're eligible for Prime or Select and not in either one, you can sign up.
• Change. Switch from Prime to Select or Select to Prime, and switch between individual and family enrollment.

You make the change in milConnect, by calling your regional contractor (Humana Military in the East, TriWest in the West) or, for the US Family Health Plan and the Prime Demo, your designated provider, or by mailing or faxing an enrollment form. Whatever you pick takes effect January 1, 2027.

Prime isn't open to everyone. It depends on where you live, so run your ZIP code through TRICARE's Plan Finder before you plan on switching to it. In metro Atlanta and metro Tampa there's also the TRICARE Prime Demo (Federal Register), and its enrollment fees are waived for the first 12 months (TRICARE 2026 Costs and Fees).

What TRICARE Costs Retirees, and When 2027's Fees Post

Your costs depend on your group. You're in Group A if your sponsor first enlisted or was appointed before January 1, 2018, and Group B if it was on or after that date. Almost everyone retiring in 2026 is Group A, since Group B careers are only about nine years old.

These are the official 2026 figures for retirees and their families, from TRICARE's 2026 Costs and Fees sheet. The copays are for network care.

The Group A Select individual deductible is $150, and the Group B Select network deductible is $198 for one person. A medically retired sponsor in Group A, their family and survivors have a $3,000 cap on Select too.

Where the 2027 numbers stand

As of October 30, 2026, TRICARE hasn't posted the 2027 enrollment fees, deductibles, copays or caps. Its costs page and catastrophic cap page still say 2026. DoD's September notice says the amounts tied to the COLA will be posted at tricare.mil/changes before open season starts.

Here's how they'll move. Retiree enrollment fees rise each year by the same percentage as retired pay (10 U.S.C. 1097(e) for Group A Prime, 1075 for Select and 1075a for Group B Prime), and so do the Group A Select cap and the Group B caps, deductibles and copays. Retired pay goes up 3.6% in January, so expect those to rise by about that much. DHA resets the Group A copays each year too. The one exception on fees is a medically retired member or survivor in Group A, whose Prime fee stays frozen.

Several Group A numbers don't move at all. The $3,000 Prime cap for retirees and the $1,000 cap for active duty families are fixed by statute and regulation, and so is the Group A Select deductible of $150 for one person and $300 for a family (10 U.S.C. 1079 and 1086, 32 CFR 199.17). I'm not going to guess the rest to the dollar. I'll update this post when TRICARE publishes them.

Pharmacy is already settled. Copays stay at the 2026 amounts for 2027 (Federal Register), and military pharmacies stay free (TRICARE 2026 Costs and Fees).

Prime or Select, Priced on Your Worst Year

Most people compare the enrollment fees and stop there. The number that matters more is the catastrophic cap, because it's the most your family can pay for covered care in a calendar year no matter what happens. Your enrollment fee, your deductible, your copays and your pharmacy copays all count toward it (TRICARE). Once you hit it, TRICARE pays your share for the rest of the year and you stop paying the enrollment fee.

So every plan has two prices. One is what a quiet year costs, which is basically the enrollment fee. The other is what a terrible year costs, which is the cap. Here they are for a retiree family on the 2026 figures.

Group A is a real trade. Select saves you $390 in a year where nobody gets sick. In a year bad enough to hit the cap, like a surgery and a hospital stay, Prime saves you up to $1,381. Most years land in between, where the gap is a lot smaller than that. If someone in your house has a chronic condition or you're expecting a big year, Prime's lower cap and lower copays usually win. If everyone's healthy and you want to see any doctor without a referral, Select costs less and the risk is $1,381 more in a bad year.

Group B is close to one-sided on price. Prime costs $264 less in fees, the cap is the same $4,635, and every copay in the table above is the same or lower. What you pay for with Select is freedom to see any TRICARE-authorized provider without a referral. That's worth something if Prime's network near you is thin or you'd have to leave a doctor you trust.

The cap doesn't cover everything. These don't count toward it.

• Point-of-service charges, which is what Prime charges when you see someone without a referral. That's a $300 deductible per person ($600 per family) and then 50% of the TRICARE-allowable charge, plus anything extra a non-network provider bills.
• Anything TRICARE doesn't cover.
• The extra a non-participating provider can bill you, up to 15% above TRICARE's allowed amount.
• Monthly premiums for Reserve Select, Retired Reserve and Young Adult.

The cap also resets every January 1. A surgery in December and the follow-up in January can cost you two caps' worth of risk, which is worth knowing if you have a choice about when to schedule something.

Reserve and Guard Plans Run on Their Own Calendar

TRICARE Reserve Select and TRICARE Retired Reserve aren't part of open season at all. They follow their own enrollment rules, so nothing about November 9 to December 8 applies to them. One rule to know before you drop Reserve Select is that if you disenroll, you can't reenroll for 12 months (TRICARE).

Reserve Select and Retired Reserve premiums go up for 2027. TRICARE hasn't posted them on its site yet, but MOAA reported these on October 27.

These don't follow the COLA. Reserve Select is priced at 28% of what the coverage costs, and Retired Reserve at the full cost with no subsidy (10 U.S.C. 1076d and 1076e). That's why Retired Reserve jumps about 9.6% while Prime and Select move with retired pay.

If you're a gray area retiree, open season still matters for one thing. You and your family can get FEDVIP dental now, and vision too if you're enrolled in a TRICARE health plan like Retired Reserve (OPM). Turning 60 is a qualifying life event, which is when you move from Retired Reserve to Prime or Select without waiting for November. The gray area guide covers the rest of what you can use before then.

FEDVIP Dental and Vision for 2027

The TRICARE Retiree Dental Program ended in 2018, and retiree dental moved to FEDVIP, the same dental and vision program federal employees use (Federal Register). You enroll through BENEFEDS.

The BENEFEDS fact sheet for uniformed services lists who can get it.

• Dental. Most retirees, survivors and their family members.
• Vision. The same people, but only if they're enrolled in a TRICARE health plan. Active duty families and Guard and Reserve families qualify for vision the same way.
• Not eligible. Active duty members themselves.

For 2027 the changes are small. OPM's numbers put the average dental premium up 1.0% and vision up 1.6% (OPM 2027 highlights). There are 11 dental carriers with 21 plan options and 5 vision carriers with 10, the same number of carriers as this year. BENEFEDS also has a new tool for dental enrollees with an account that compares estimated out-of-pocket costs for 75 common services across all 11 carriers, which is the fastest way to see whether your plan still makes sense for the care you actually use.

Your dental premium depends on where you live, since dental is priced by region. Vision costs the same everywhere. OPM posts the full 2027 rate tables on its premiums page.

One thing that surprises people is that a military retiree's FEDVIP premiums are paid after tax. Someone who enrolls through TRICARE eligibility doesn't get the pre-tax option federal employees have (5 CFR 894.403). If you also work a federal civilian job you can enroll as an employee instead and pay pre-tax, but you use one eligibility or the other. BENEFEDS sets up an allotment from your retired pay when there's room for it, and a bank withdrawal when there isn't.

If you're about to retire, don't wait for open season. A retiring member can enroll in FEDVIP from 31 days before to 60 days after the retirement date, and enrolling before you retire keeps you from going without dental.

If You Work a Federal Civilian Job Now

Plenty of retirees land in a GS job. That makes you eligible for FEHB, the federal employee health program, alongside TRICARE, and open season is when you'd switch between them. For 2027 OPM puts the average FEHB enrollee premium up 10.9%. If you plan to retire from that federal job and want FEHB in that retirement too, read OPM's five year rule before you drop FEHB for TRICARE. Time on TRICARE counts toward it, but you have to be enrolled in FEHB on the day you retire.

FSAFEDS, the flexible spending account, is for active federal employees only. Military retirement alone doesn't make you eligible, and it has to be renewed every open season.

If You Miss It

If you're already enrolled, missing open season just means you keep what you have. If you aren't enrolled and don't sign up, you're left with space-available care at a military hospital or clinic until next open season.

The only way in between open seasons is a qualifying life event. Each one opens a 90-day window for the whole family, and coverage starts back on the date of the event (TRICARE). These are the common ones.

• retiring from active duty, which gives you 90 days to make an enrollment decision or lose coverage
• separating, activating or deactivating
• marriage, divorce, a birth or an adoption
• moving, including a child leaving for college
• gaining or losing other health insurance
• turning 60 in Retired Reserve, or becoming eligible for Medicare

Pregnancy isn't on the list. A birth is. FEDVIP has its own life events, and some of them differ from TRICARE's.

A 15 Minute Open Season Checklist

1. Log in to milConnect and confirm what you're actually enrolled in, and that every family member is there in DEERS.
2. Look at what you spent on care this year. If you came close to your cap, or expect a big year, price Prime against Select on the worst year, not the fee.
3. If you're in Select and want Prime, check that Prime is offered at your ZIP code before December 8.
4. If a kid is about to turn 21 (23 in college), check what coverage they move to.
5. Open BENEFEDS and use the new cost tool to compare your dental plan with the others on what you actually use.
6. Make sure there's room in your retired pay for the FEDVIP allotment, especially if a VA offset takes most of it. If there isn't, BENEFEDS moves you to a bank withdrawal and needs your bank details.
7. Do the TRICARE change by December 8 and the FEDVIP change by December 14. Screenshot the confirmation.
8. Check tricare.mil/changes once the 2027 fees post and make sure your January allotment matches.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is TRICARE Open Season 2026?

TRICARE Open Season runs November 9 to December 8, 2026, and changes take effect January 1, 2027. FEDVIP dental and vision open season runs longer, November 9 to December 14, 2026, and ends at 11:59 pm Eastern.

Do I have to do anything during open season?

No. If you're enrolled in TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select and happy with it, your coverage continues into 2027 on its own. FEDVIP dental and vision coverage also continues automatically.

Can I switch from TRICARE Prime to TRICARE Select during open season?

Yes. During open season you can switch from Prime to Select or from Select to Prime, and switch between individual and family enrollment, in milConnect, by phone with your regional contractor, or by mail. Prime depends on where you live, so check that it's offered at your ZIP code first.

Are TRICARE Reserve Select and Retired Reserve part of open season?

No. TRICARE Reserve Select, TRICARE Retired Reserve and TRICARE Young Adult aren't part of TRICARE Open Season and follow their own enrollment rules. Reserve Select and Retired Reserve members and families can still use FEDVIP open season for vision while they're enrolled, and Retired Reserve members and families can get FEDVIP dental too.

Are the 2027 TRICARE fees out yet?

Not as of October 30, 2026. TRICARE still lists its 2026 costs, and DoD said it would post the 2027 amounts before open season. Retiree enrollment fees rise each year by the retired pay COLA, which is 3.6% for 2027, while several Group A amounts, like the $3,000 Prime cap for retirees, are fixed by statute and regulation. Pharmacy copays stay at the 2026 amounts.

Are FEDVIP premiums pre-tax for military retirees?

Not when you enroll as a military retiree. People who enroll through TRICARE eligibility pay FEDVIP premiums after tax under 5 CFR 894.403, usually by allotment from retired pay. A retiree who also works a federal civilian job can enroll as an employee instead and pay pre-tax.

Related Articles

• TRICARE After Retirement 2026: Prime vs Select Costs
• TRICARE West Region Payment Crisis: What Happened and What to Check Now
• Reserve and Guard Retirement Pay 2026 and the Gray Area
• 2027 Military Pay Dates for Retirees, VA Disability and Active Duty

This article is for educational purposes. Confirm your eligibility and costs with TRICARE, your regional contractor and BENEFEDS before you make a change.