PSHB plan comparison 2027: Postal Service health plans, side by side
Federal Benefits Open Season for plan year 2027 runs November 9 to December 14, 2026.
* Three PSHB options end after 2026: GEHA High, MHBP Consumer, and UnitedHealthcare Postal East. If you are in one, choose a plan by December 14. See what endsPick your 2026 plan to see what changes for 2027 and how every plan compares with what you pay now.
How many times this year
Each line is priced the same way for every plan from OPM's summary, with the assumed charges listed under "How the year figures are built" (a hospital admission at $18,000, an inpatient surgeon at $4,000), and capped at the plan's out-of-pocket maximum. Where a plan charges its hospital copay per day, each stay is priced at the days you enter, or 5 if you leave that box empty. A surgery with a stay counts once on each of the first two lines. A count above 99 is set to 99. The list and the side-by-side sort by this year while it is selected.
Loading OPM's 2027 plan files…
Swipe sideways to see every plan; the row names stay put.
Educational information only. This table is not an enrollment tool and StandWatch is not acting for OPM or the Postal Service: the plan's brochure and the HR Shared Service Center are the final authority. Rows shaded cream are where the plans differ. "Lowest" and "highest" are facts about the numbers in this table, not a recommendation. Each year figure carries its label: exact, copays only, has coinsurance, or not priced. The brochure is the official statement of benefits; this table is OPM's summary of it.
Source: OPM PSHB Public Use Files (2027 rates, plan key, plan benefits, service area) and the OPM 2027 PSHB premium charts for the change from 2026. Nothing you pick leaves this device.
How the year figures are built
Not every number on this page is the same kind of number, so each one carries a label. Premium, deductible, and out-of-pocket maximum are OPM's published figures, not estimates. Worst year is arithmetic: premiums for the year plus the plan's in-network out-of-pocket maximum, minus the plan's HSA deposit if it makes one; it is the most a year of in-network care can cost you, and it is labeled exact. The other three profiles are estimates built the same way for every plan, so the comparison is like for like.
| Profile | What the year contains |
|---|---|
| Healthy year | 1 preventive visit, 2 primary care visits, 1 round of labs, 4 generic (tier 1) fills |
| Typical year | 1 preventive visit, 4 primary care visits, 3 specialist visits, 1 urgent care visit, 3 rounds of labs, 1 CT or MRI, 12 generic fills, 2 preferred brand (tier 2) fills |
| Managing a condition | 1 preventive visit, 6 primary care visits, 10 specialist visits, 1 urgent care visit, 6 rounds of labs, 2 CT or MRI, 1 outpatient surgery, 12 generic fills, 12 tier 2 fills, 6 non-preferred brand (tier 3) fills |
| Worst year | Not simulated: premiums plus the in-network out-of-pocket maximum, minus an HSA deposit |
| Your own year | The counts you enter: hospital admissions, inpatient and outpatient surgeries, emergency room, specialist, primary care, and urgent care visits, scans, labs, and fills by tier, plus one preventive visit. Priced line by line the same way as the three profiles, with the same assumed charges and the same cap. |
The labels. Copays only: every service in the profile is a flat dollar copay on that plan, so no assumed charge was needed and the figure is close to exact. Has coinsurance: the plan prices at least one of the services as a percentage, and a percentage needs a charge to work from, so the assumed charges below were used; that is where the uncertainty lives. Not priced: OPM's summary gives no usable figure for a service the profile uses, so no total is shown and the plan sorts to the end rather than being guessed at.
| Service | Assumed charge, used only where a plan quotes a percentage |
|---|---|
| Primary care visit | $150 |
| Specialist visit | $250 |
| Urgent care | $200 |
| Emergency room | $1,500 |
| Labs, X-ray, ultrasound | $100 |
| CT, MRI, PET | $1,200 |
| Hospital admission | $18,000 |
| Hospital stay, where a plan charges per day | 5 days |
| Surgeon, inpatient | $4,000 |
| Outpatient surgery | $2,000 |
| Generic drug (tier 1) | $20 a fill |
| Preferred brand (tier 2) | $120 a fill |
| Non-preferred brand (tier 3) | $300 a fill |
The rules applied. Annual premium is your share times the pay periods you chose (26 biweekly, 24 semi-monthly, 13 every four weeks, 12 monthly), or the monthly annuitant rate times 12. Copays are charged per use and do not wait for the deductible, except on an HDHP, which by law pays nothing but preventive care until the deductible is met, so there you pay the assumed charge until then. Coinsurance services charge the full assumed amount until the deductible is met, then the percentage. Where OPM’s note says a plan’s hospital copay is charged per day (7 plan options for 2027), a stay is priced at 5 days of that copay, within the plan’s own day limit or per-admission cap: 5 is the national average stay of 4.6 days (AHRQ, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, 2016) rounded up to whole days, and Build your own year lets you set it. Care is capped at the out-of-pocket maximum. An HSA deposit is subtracted in full, because it is your money whether or not you use care; an HRA is subtracted only up to what the year would spend, because it pays for care and cannot be withdrawn. OPM publishes the deposit amounts; nothing here is derived. The HSA figure assumes you can have an HSA. The HDHP brochures list the rules: no Medicare, no other health plan that is not a high-deductible plan (TRICARE is one), no VA care in the last three months except for a service-connected disability, and no health care FSA. If you cannot, the plan funds an HRA instead, often a different amount, and its brochure gives the figure. The health accounts guide has the rules and every plan's deposit. Association dues are not in the year figure; plans that charge them say so under the plan name. The worst year is the in-network out-of-pocket maximum for covered care: out-of-network bills, excluded services, and charges above the plan’s allowance sit outside it.
What this does not model. Out-of-network care and balance billing; whether your own doctors and hospitals take a plan; whether your medications are on a plan's formulary and at which tier; referral and prior-authorization rules and visit limits; mail-order and specialty pharmacy pricing; dental and vision (FEDVIP is separate) and the tax savings of an HSA; and Medicare. The year figures are for someone without Medicare: once Medicare pays first and drugs run through the plan's Part D plan, use the With Medicare rows in the side by side instead. Any of these can change which plan fits you. Narrow the field here, then read the brochure, which is the only contractual statement of what a plan covers.
Gaps in OPM's file. 2 plan options carry no usable figure for tier 3 prescriptions in OPM's 2027 summary. In the profile that uses tier 3 they show as not priced instead of being guessed.
Rules that change the math
OPM lists this PSHB plan as not available in 2027. If you are enrolled in it and do not choose a new plan during Open Season, you are automatically enrolled in the designated default plan, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan FEP Blue Focus. Pick your 2026 plan in the tool above to see your numbers against any 2027 plan.
- UnitedHealthcare (Choice Plus Primary Postal East) (AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, IA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, PA, TN, TX, VA)
2 more 2026 options end inside carriers that continue in 2027. GEHA Employee Organization, High Option (nationwide); MHBP, Consumer Option (nationwide): neither OPM nor the carrier had posted where enrollees who do not choose are placed when we checked on October 30, 2026; the Human Resources Shared Service Center (877-477-3273, option 5) or, for annuitants, the Retirement Information Office (888-767-6738) can tell you. Source for the plans that end: OPM’s 2027 Open Season highlights.
This is the biggest difference from FEHB. OPM says certain Medicare-eligible Postal Service annuitants and their Medicare-eligible family members must enroll in Part B to stay in a PSHB plan. OPM's exceptions: annuitants who retired on or before January 1, 2025 and are not already in Part B; employees who were 64 or older on January 1, 2025; people living outside the United States and its territories; and people eligible for or enrolled in certain VA health benefits or Indian Health Service care. OPM, PSHB Medicare Part B requirements.
Postal annuitants and covered family members eligible for Medicare Part D automatically get drug coverage through their PSHB plan's Part D plan, at no added premium. OPM warns that anyone who opts out gets no prescription coverage through PSHB and still pays the same premium, so call the plan before opting out. The side by side shows each plan's Part D yearly maximum. OPM, pharmacy benefits for Postal annuitants.
Employee figures are OPM's rate for active postal employees. OPM says the 2027 employer contribution is the same across all postal unions and management associations, except for USPS non-career employees or where a collective bargaining agreement says otherwise. If that may be you, ask the HR Shared Service Center: 877-477-3273, option 5. OPM, PSHB premiums.
To carry coverage into retirement you generally must have been enrolled in FEHB, PSHB, or both for your last five years of federal service. A 2027 PSHB brochure, RI 71-021 states the rule; ask the HR Shared Service Center about your own dates.
OPM says an annuitant may be able to suspend PSHB while enrolled in other coverage such as TRICARE, CHAMPVA, a Medicare Advantage plan, Medicaid, or Peace Corps, pay no PSHB premium while suspended, and return after a qualifying life event or in a later Open Season. If you enrolled in Part B during the 2024 special enrollment period, OPM says USPS keeps paying your late enrollment penalty while you stay enrolled or suspended, and that cancelling PSHB generally makes the penalty yours. OPM, suspension versus cancellation.
OPM says PSHB is not a participant in FSAFEDS, so the federal flexible spending accounts do not come with these plans. PSHB enrollment does not change FEDVIP, FEGLI, or the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program. OPM, PSHB quick facts.
The PSHB plan year runs January 1 to December 31, for employees too. An Open Season enrollment or change takes effect January 1, 2027, and a cancellation December 31, 2026. OPM's 2027 Open Season highlights.
Where you actually enroll
Use this page to narrow the field, then read the brochure of the plan you are leaning toward. You enroll in the Postal Service Health Benefits System (PSHBS), which needs a login.gov account and also lets you shop plans without logging in. If you are not changing anything, you do not need to do anything. For a qualifying life event, USPS employees call the HR Shared Service Center at 877-477-3273, annuitants call the Retirement Information Office at 888-767-6738, and compensationers call the Department of Labor at 202-513-6860. OPM, PSHB enrollment · every PSHB brochure.
Before you enroll
Not the official statement of benefits. Each plan's brochure is the only contractual statement of what it covers, excludes, and limits. Where this page and a brochure disagree, the brochure governs. Read it before you enroll.
Estimates, under published assumptions. Premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums are OPM's figures. Two plans' HSA amounts come from their brochures, because OPM's file differs. The year-cost figures are estimates under the usage profiles and assumed charges above, labeled exact, copays only, has coinsurance, or not priced. They are not predictions of what you will spend.
What the model leaves out. Out-of-network care and balance billing; whether your own doctors and hospitals take a plan; whether your medications are on a plan's formulary and at which tier; referral and prior-authorization rules and visit limits; mail-order and specialty pharmacy pricing; dental and vision under FEDVIP; and Medicare. Any of these can change which plan fits you.
No affiliation. StandWatch is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for the U.S. Postal Service, the Office of Personnel Management, or any federal agency. The plan data is OPM's; the arrangement is ours and is not OPM's presentation. The colors on this page are a nod to the people who work there, nothing more. StandWatch is not a health plan, a broker, or an insurer, and nothing here is a recommendation to select, keep, or drop any plan, or medical, insurance, financial, tax, or legal advice. Figures are for plan year 2027; the 2028 files post in late September 2027. The full educational-purpose statement.
