OPM takes late enrollments for dental, vision insurance

The Office of Personnel Management is accepting late enrollments from people who experienced technical difficulties when they tried to sign up for new federal dental and vision insurance.

Open season to enroll in the new Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program ended Monday, but the program's Web site, Benefeds.com, and phone lines have been flooded by a high level of traffic, OPM said, making it hard for some people to get through. They will have until Friday, Dec. 15, to sign up.

"This opportunity may be extended further if volume warrants," stated a notice on the Benefeds.com site Monday afternoon.

OPM is adding computer and phone capacity as part of its efforts to address the problem, a spokesman said.

Employees who are late to sign up because of problems with the Web site or phone line will not see a delay in the insurance, the spokesman said.

This is the first year that current and retired federal employees have had the option to sign up for supplemental vision and dental insurance during the open season. There is no government subsidy for this type of insurance.

Biweekly premiums for family dental plans range from around $20 to $55 and feature 100 percent coverage for preventative dental work and varying coverage for other procedures. Family vision insurance will range from about $8 to $16 every two weeks.

The OPM spokesman declined to say on Monday how many employees had signed up for the new benefits. The Washington Post on Friday reported that about 325,000 people have enrolled.