Dental up 1% on average, 5.8% on one plan, and open season through Dec. 14
The 2027 federal dental and vision prices are now published: the program average rises 1% and 1.6%, but plan-level moves run from flat to 8.3%, and open season closes Dec. 14.
On Sept. 30 the federal government put a price on the 2027 plan year. The Office of Personnel Management set the next Open Season for Nov. 9 through Dec. 14, 2026, and published the 2027 rates for the health, postal, dental and vision programs it runs 1.
The headline averages look almost flat. Across the federal dental and vision program, dental premiums rose 1.0% and vision premiums 1.6% for 2027 2. The plan-by-plan figures underneath that average move much further, in both directions.
One piece of the 2027 package is still missing. OPM's dental plan page still lists 2026 brochures 3, and MetLife's federal dental page still opens on "2026 Plan Details" 4. The 2027 prices are on the record. The 2027 benefit documents are the next thing to watch for, and they are what will confirm whether the shares and maximums below still hold.
What Sept. 30 put on the record
- Open Season for the 2027 plan year runs Nov. 9 through Dec. 14, 2026, covering the health, postal, dental and vision programs and the flexible spending account program 1.
- The federal dental and vision program will offer 11 dental carriers with 21 plan options and five vision carriers with 10 options 1.
- Average premium changes for 2027: dental 1.0%, vision 1.6%. In the larger health program the enrollee share rises 10.9% on average, down from 12.3% for 2026; in the postal program it rises 8.2%, down from 11.3% 2.
- Health, dental and vision coverage carries into 2027 automatically for anyone who makes no change, so doing nothing is itself a decision. The flexible spending account works the other way: it requires a new election every year 1.
- New this year, the flexible spending account adds a Visa card that pays for qualified dental and vision expenses at the point of sale, as an alternative to paperless reimbursement 1.
Two items from outside the federal program landed in the same seven days. California's governor signed a dental insurance bill on Sept. 28 that requires plans to honor a patient's assignment of benefits starting Jan. 1, 2027 5. On Sept. 29 the American Dental Association wrote to the Senate Finance Committee asking that whatever insurance reforms come out of its request for information apply to dental benefits as well, including the employer plans that states currently cannot reach 6.
The 2027 dental price list
The figures below are the federal dental and vision program's own published rates for one person paying monthly in rating region 1. Dental premiums vary by where you live, and the rate chart breaks them into rating regions; the vision chart prints one national set of rates 789. For Delta Dental and MetLife, the two largest dental plans here, the percentage change is the same at every enrollment tier, so the single-person figure shows the pattern for a family too.
| 2027 FEDVIP dental plan | High, monthly | Change from 2026 | Standard, monthly | Change from 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aetna Dental | $39.50 7 | +1.7% 10 | $24.53 7 | +1.6% 10 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield FEP Dental | $42.27 7 | flat 10 | $22.75 7 | flat 10 |
| Delta Dental's Federal Employees Dental Program | $39.67 7 | flat 10 | $23.68 7 | +5.8% 10 |
| Dominion National | $22.04 7 | +3.4% 10 | $13.07 7 | +3.3% 10 |
| EmblemHealth Dental | $74.71 7 | +8.3% 10 | $45.85 7 | flat 10 |
| GEHA Connection Dental Federal | $41.10 7 | flat 10 | $23.44 7 | flat 10 |
| Humana Dental | $46.63 7 | −1.0% 10 | $25.37 7 | −1.9% 10 |
| The MetLife Federal Dental Plan | $40.76 7 | flat 10 | $24.03 7 | +1.8% 10 |
| Triple-S Salud | $13.02 7 | −2.9% 10 | offered as a High option only 7 | — |
| United Concordia Dental | $41.30 7 | +3.8% 10 | $25.50 7 | +7.7% 10 |
| UnitedHealthcare Dental Plan | $48.51 7 | +0.9% 10 | $27.21 7 | −0.9% 10 |
A 1.0% average across 21 options makes a flat program sound like a rounding error. Read down the column and the money changes shape. Six of the eleven carriers held at least one option flat, and the largest plans are among them: Delta Dental and MetLife both carried their High option forward at the same monthly price, and VSP did the same on both vision options. On the other side, EmblemHealth's High option rose 8.3% and United Concordia's Standard option 7.7%, both several times the program average 710.
The place where the average misleads most is inside a single carrier. Delta Dental's High option is unchanged at $39.67 a month, while its Standard option goes from $22.38 to $23.68 — a 5.8% rise, or about $15.60 more across the year 710. Put that $15.60 beside a national-average cleaning, exam and X-ray visit at $203, and the year's increase costs about a tenth of one preventive visit 11. A single composite filling at the national average is $226, so in a year with one filling the premium change is still the smaller line 11.
Vision: five carriers, one flat
| 2027 FEDVIP vision plan | High, monthly | Change from 2026 | Standard, monthly | Change from 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aetna Vision Preferred | $12.37 8 | +0.5% 12 | $7.28 8 | +6.0% 12 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield FEP Vision | $12.61 8 | +2.9% 12 | $7.71 8 | flat 12 |
| The MetLife Federal Vision Plan | $12.18 8 | +1.7% 12 | $8.21 8 | +3.3% 12 |
| UnitedHealthcare Vision | $12.83 8 | +3.7% 12 | $8.39 8 | +3.6% 12 |
| VSP Vision Care | $14.56 8 | flat 12 | $7.76 8 | flat 12 |
VSP carries both of its options into 2027 at the 2026 price, and it is the most expensive High option on the list at $14.56 a month 8. MetLife's vision plan, the one it pairs with its dental plan, rises $0.20 a month on the High option and $0.26 on the Standard. Over a year those moves are $2.40 and $3.12 812.
Dental and vision run on the same 12-month calendar here, and the plan year starts Jan. 1. A frame allowance, a contact lens allowance and the annual maximum for major dental work are all rebuilt on that date, so a pair of glasses bought in November spends an allowance that disappears a few weeks later 4.
The year in one number
Here is what the premium and the plan share add up to for a defined year, on Delta Dental's two options, in network, with the annual maximum unspent at the start. The shares below are the 2026 plan design, which is the most recent one published: in network, the member pays 30% of the plan allowance for Class B work such as fillings under the High option and 45% under Standard, and 50% or 65% for Class C work such as crowns 4.
| A year with two cleanings, one filling and one crown | Delta Dental High | Delta Dental Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Annual premium, self-only, rating region 1 | $476.04 7 | $284.16 7 |
| Member share, composite filling at the $226 average | $67.80 11 | $101.70 11 |
| Member share, porcelain crown at the $1,399 average | $699.50 11 | $909.35 11 |
| Total for the year | $1,243.34 | $1,295.21 |
In a year with restorative work, the High option comes out about $52 ahead, and the 2027 rate change is what put it there. When Standard rose 5.8% and High held flat, the $191.88 of extra annual premium that High has always charged bought back $243.25 of member share on this pair of procedures 7. Money spent on a crown is what closes that gap, so the reader who expects a restoration is the one the High option is priced for.
Flip the year to cleanings only and the arithmetic reverses. Class A services carry no in-network member share on either option, so the total is the premium and nothing else: $476.04 on High against $284.16 on Standard, a $191.88 gap in Standard's favor 7.
The member share is a percentage of the plan's allowance, the negotiated or maximum amount the plan will recognize for a service, rather than of the price on the wall. The figures above use national retail averages so the arithmetic is checkable; a real bill runs on the allowance and the practice's own fee, which is why the predetermination matters more than the percentage.
One more line belongs in this total. If the $1,011.05 of member share above came out of a pre-tax dental and vision account, a reader in the 22% bracket would spend $788.62 of after-tax income on it, keeping $222.43. OPM is pointing federal employees at exactly that: the flexible spending account's own page describes the dental and vision expenses it covers, the account requires a fresh election each year, and the 2027 card lets it be spent at the counter 1.
What the premium does not decide
Two readers can hold the same plan at the same premium and face very different bills at the same dental office. The difference is who gets asked to pay first.
In network, the practice accepts the plan's allowance, the plan pays its share of it, and the patient owes the rest with no exposure to the practice's list price 4. Out of network, the patient owes the difference between the allowance and the charge on top of the member share, and offices commonly ask for the full fee up front, leaving the patient to collect the plan's share afterward 4.
California changed the second half of that arrangement on Sept. 28. AB 1629, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, requires dental plans to honor a patient's assignment of benefits, so a dentist can be paid directly by the plan instead of requiring the patient to pay 100% of the treatment cost up front 5. The same law requires plans to tell patients about the dentist's network status and their potential financial responsibility before treatment, and requires dental insurers to report provider-network information for every plan they sell so regulators can see whether networks are adequate 5.
The law's reach stops at a line many readers sit on. About half of Californians with commercial dental coverage are in self-funded employer plans governed by federal ERISA law, and the California Dental Association describes those plans as outside the state's current network-adequacy assessments 5. The ADA's letter to the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 29 asks the committee to let states seek federal approval to apply their dental insurance protections — assignment of benefits among them — to self-funded employer dental plans and the companies that administer them 6. The letter is a request, and it changes no benefit term today.
Which side of that line you are on is one question, and your benefits office can answer it: ask whether your dental plan is fully insured or self-funded. The second question goes to the practice's billing desk: does this office bill the plan directly, or does the patient pay in full and wait for the plan's check? That single answer decides how much cash a crown takes out of your account on the day.
What the same work costs in cash
Cash prices are what a reader compares a quote against, and what fills the gap when a frequency limit refuses a visit or a network has nobody nearby.
- Routine dental exam with a full cleaning and X-rays: $203 average, with a national range of $50 to $350 11.
- Composite resin filling: $226. Silver amalgam: $139 11.
- Porcelain crown: $1,399. Porcelain fused to metal: $1,114. Metallic: $1,211 11.
- Molar root canal: $1,337, inside a national range that runs $679 to $1,733 1113.
- Periodontal maintenance cleaning: $167. Scaling and root planing: $242 per quadrant 11.
- Bitewing X-rays: $65. Full-mouth X-rays: $226 11.
- Uninsured ranges at a private practice: cleaning and exam $75 to $200, filling $50 to $450, root canal $700 to $1,500, crown $800 to $2,500 or more. Dental school teaching clinics treat patients at lower fees than private practices, under faculty supervision 14.
- Eye exam without insurance: $79 to $110 at warehouse clubs, where the optometrist is an independent doctor and a membership is not required. A contact lens exam and fitting runs $125 to $150, and private optometrists run $95 to $250 15. The exam is eligible for a health or dependent care spending account, so pre-tax dollars can pay for it 15.
Two moves turn those numbers into a lower bill. Ask the practice for its self-pay or prepayment price, which often sits below the billed charge, and ask for the estimate in writing with the procedure codes on it so the plan can price the same codes 11. Where a plan allowance is already set, the codes are what let the office quote a number the plan will recognize.
What patients and offices reported
Four threads in the dental communities ran through this same week. Each is one person's account of one situation, and each is useful for the question it raises rather than as evidence about a carrier.
On Sept. 28 a member posting in r/DentalInsurance described holding a MetLife dental plan from a former employer while considering an AARP dental plan from Delta for 2027, with a backlog of deferred treatment. The replies went to coordination of benefits rather than to either plan's merits. One member wrote that the secondary plan needs standard coordination rather than non-duplication, since a non-duplication secondary can decline to pay even after the primary has paid, and that which plan counts as primary follows insurer rules rather than enrollment order. Another reply made the practical point that the office bills the primary and then the secondary for every procedure all year, so a plan cannot be held in reserve for the expensive work. Waiting periods and missing-tooth clauses came up as the two limitations to look for in a second plan 16.
On Oct. 1 a member who had moved wrote that a large local clinic told her, before her appointment, that it accepts no insurance. Replies split between members who said they now pay the practice and wait for an insurer's check and a member who described an out-of-network periodontist that files the claim and bills only the patient's share. One reply put the choice in the terms this issue uses: an office leaves the networks to set its own prices, and a patient with out-of-network benefits worth the same as in-network benefits absorbs little from the change 17.
On Sept. 30 a member wrote that a deep cleaning her dentist considered necessary had been denied before treatment, and asked whether the plan's value justified the premium. An office-side reply described what the carrier's handbook asks for on periodontal claims — radiographic evidence of alveolar bone loss in the treated quadrants, read from bitewing and periapical films rather than a panoramic image — and said a claim submitted with the wrong film gets denied for radiographic evidence. A second office-side reply said it had appealed the same kind of denial that day by annotating the X-rays to show the bone loss, after about two hours of work 18. The documentation standard in those replies comes from people working in offices, and the carrier's handbook is where a patient would confirm it.
On Oct. 3 a dentist in r/Dentistry asked whether others were seeing an uptick in Delta Dental denying crowns. The replies split; the top one said Delta pays modestly but usually without a fight, and others described leaving the network over fee levels. The thread is one office's question and the responses to it, and it fits the pattern that makes predetermination worth the wait whenever a crown is planned 19.
Before Dec. 14
The federal program's own deadline is the one date in this issue. Working backward from it:
- Read your own rating region's line in the dental chart rather than the region 1 figures above, then compare it with your 2026 payroll deduction to see your own change 9.
- Ask your benefits office whether your dental coverage is fully insured or self-funded. That answer decides whether a state law such as California's assignment-of-benefits rule reaches your plan 5.
- Ask your dentist's billing desk whether the office bills the plan directly and what it charges a self-pay patient. Get the second number before the first crown, not after.
- For anything above your plan's predetermination threshold, request a written estimate with the procedure codes and let the plan price those codes first 4.
- Price the flexible spending account against your expected dental and vision spending for 2027, and remember that it needs a new election each year to continue 1.
- Book the exam and the frames inside the plan year that still has allowance left in it. The 2027 allowance arrives Jan. 1, and what is unspent on Dec. 31 does not follow you into it 4.
References
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4Federal Dental Plan Details
fedvip.metlife.com
- 5
- 6
- 72027 FEDVIP Dental Premiums
opm.gov
- 82027 FEDVIP Vision Premiums
opm.gov
- 9Plan Premiums
opm.gov
- 102026 dental rates\
opm.gov
- 11Dentist Prices: Dental Procedure Cost List
carecredit.com
- 122026 vision rates\
opm.gov
- 13Root Canal Cost and Procedure Guide
carecredit.com
- 14Access Lower-Cost Dental Care
penndentalmedicine.org
- 15Costco Eye Exam Cost With and Without Insurance
costcoguides.com
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19Delta dental crown rejections
reddit.com
This story was produced automatically by a channel. One sentence is all it takes for Neodrop to keep producing for you.