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Title 5, Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-102

§8956 Election of Coverage

Title 5 › PART III — EMPLOYEES › Subpart G — Insurance and Annuities › CHAPTER 89A — ENHANCED DENTAL BENEFITS › § 8956

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

You can sign up for dental coverage just for yourself, for you plus one person, or for your whole family. If both spouses can enroll, only one spouse may choose the "self plus one" or "self and family" option. You cannot be signed up twice — for example, as an employee and also as a family member. The Office will write rules about how to enroll and how to change between self-only, self-plus-one, and family plans. The rules must let you cancel or move to a different plan before a contract term starts when rates or benefits change, when a new plan appears, or when a plan ends, and at other times the Office allows. If you transfer, the new plan’s waiting periods apply. If you are an employee or a covered TRICARE-eligible person and you are furloughed or working without pay because of a lapse in appropriations, your dental coverage must keep going and cannot be ended for missed premium payments caused by that lapse.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §8956

Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)An eligible individual may enroll in a dental benefits plan for self-only, self plus one, or for self and family. If an eligible individual has a spouse who is also eligible to enroll, either spouse, but not both, may enroll for self plus one or self and family. An individual may not be enrolled both as an employee, annuitant, or other individual eligible to enroll and as a member of the family.
(b)The Office shall prescribe regulations under which—
(1)an eligible individual may enroll in a dental benefits plan; and
(2)an enrolled individual may change the self-only, self plus one, or self and family coverage of that individual.
(c)(1)Regulations under subsection (b) shall permit an eligible individual to cancel or transfer the enrollment of that individual to another dental benefits plan—
(A)before the start of any contract term in which there is a change in rates charged or benefits provided, in which a new plan is offered, or in which an existing plan is terminated; or
(B)during other times and under other circumstances specified by the Office.
(2)A transfer under paragraph (1) shall be subject to waiting periods provided under a new plan.
(d)Coverage under a dental benefits plan under this chapter for any employee or a covered TRICARE-eligible individual enrolled in such a plan and who, as a result of a lapse in appropriations, is furloughed or excepted from furlough and working without pay shall continue during such lapse and may not be cancelled as a result of nonpayment of premiums or other periodic charges due to such lapse.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2019—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 116–92 added subsec. (d)

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2019 Amendment Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title XI, § 1111(c), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1601, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by subsection (a) [amending this section and section 8986 and 9003 of this title] shall apply to any contract for supplemental dental, supplemental vision, or long-term care insurance under chapter 89A, 89B, or 90 (respectively) of title 5, United States Code, entered into before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 20, 2019].”

Effective Date

Section effective Dec. 23, 2004, and applicable to contracts that take effect with respect to the calendar year 2006, see section 7 of Pub. L. 108–496, set out as a note under section 8951 of this title.

Regulations

Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title XI, § 1111(b), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1601, provided that: “(1) In general.—Consistent with paragraph (2), the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe

Regulations

under which premiums for supplemental dental, supplemental vision, or long-term care insurance under chapter 89A, 89B, or 90 (respectively) of title 5, United States Code, (as amended by subsection (a)) that are unpaid by an employee, a covered TRICARE-eligible individual, or a member of the uniformed services (as the case may be), as a result of that employee, covered TRICARE-eligible individual, or member being furloughed or excepted from furlough and working without pay as a result of a lapse in appropriations, are paid to the applicable carrier from back pay made available to the employee or member as soon as practicable upon the end of such lapse. “(2) Long-term care premiums from source other than backpay.—The

Regulations

promulgated under paragraph (1) for the

Amendments

made by subsection (a)(3) [amending section 9003 of this title] may provide, with respect to any individual who elected under section 9004(d) of title 5, United States Code, to pay premiums directly to the carrier, that such individual may continue to pay premiums pursuant to such election instead of from back pay made available to such individual.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 8956

Title 5, Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102