Certain military retirees who buy dental insurance through the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) must choose a new plan for 2026 or be dropped from their dental coverage.
FEDVIP allows military retirees to purchase dental coverage and active-duty families, and those enrolled in Tricare Reserve Select, to purchase vision coverage. FEDVIP offered plans from 12 dental carriers in 2025, one of which, the regional carrier HealthPartners Dental, will not be part of FEDVIP in 2026.
“As a result, all enrollments in HealthPartners Dental will end on December 31, 2025. If … you wish to keep your FEDVIP dental coverage in 2026, you must select a different dental plan” during open enrollment, according to the official BENEFEDS benefits website.
Read More: FEDVIP Open Season for Military and Retiree Health Insurance
HealthPartners Dental was available in Minnesota, Wisconsin, parts of Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota.
FEDVIP is a voluntary, enrollee-pay-all insurance program. It is sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and offers eligible participants plan options and a choice between 11 dental insurance carriers for 2026.
For 2026, FEDVIP offers the following dental carriers:
- Aetna Dental
- Blue Cross Blue Shield FEP Dental
- Delta Dental
- Dominion National (regional)
- EmblemHealth Dental (regional)
- GEHA Connection Dental Federal
- Humana (regional)
- MetLife Federal Dental Plan
- Triple-S Salud (regional)
- United Concordia Dental
- UnitedHealthcare Dental
An HMO plan includes predictable, predetermined fees, while a PPO plan covers procedures as a coinsurance percentage, and it might not be clear what your out-of-pocket costs will be.
FEDVIP offers “standard” and “high” option plans. If you know you need major dental work done, you may want to explore a high option plan that may cover more of the cost for major restorative procedures. If you need only preventive dental care, a standard option plan may make more sense.
Outside of open season, FEDVIP enrollees may make plan changes only if they experience a qualifying life event (QLE), such as changing reserve status or marital status, an injury while on active duty, moving, having or adopting a child and other similar changes.
Beneficiaries whose plans are currently with HealthPartners Dental need to make a new election before the end of open enrollment on Dec. 8.
The BENEFEDS website provides tools allowing users to compare both plans and costs of dental services.
The FEDVIP open enrollment period for 2026 coverage ends at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.
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