Benefits Open Enrollment Checklist

24 items · Personal Finance · Medium difficulty · 2 hours

Compare what each medical plan costs you for the year, check networks and drugs, set FSA or HSA amounts and update beneficiaries before the deadline.

• Find your enrollment deadline and put it in your calendar
• Read what your employer changed for next year

  Look for a summary of changes in the benefits guide or portal. Plans get dropped, renamed or repriced.

• Find out whether you must actively re-enroll

  Some employers carry your choices forward if you do nothing. Others put you in a default plan or leave you with no coverage.

• Write down the changes you expect next year

  A baby due, a planned surgery, a child turning 26 or a spouse changing jobs can each change which plan costs least.

• Add up what each medical plan would cost you for the year

  Take the premium per paycheck times the number of paychecks, then add what you expect to pay toward the deductible and coinsurance. For in-network care, the year's premiums plus the out-of-pocket maximum are your worst case.

• Check that your doctors, hospital and pharmacy are in network for each plan
• Look up each prescription on every plan's drug list and note its tier
• Compare any HSA-eligible plan with the others

  You can only put money in an HSA with an HSA-eligible high-deductible plan. A general health care FSA, yours or a spouse's that covers you, also blocks HSA contributions, while a limited-purpose FSA for dental and vision does not. Count any employer HSA contribution against that plan's higher deductible.

• Choose a health care FSA amount, if your employer offers one

  Base it on costs you know are coming, like new glasses or a planned procedure. Check whether your plan has a grace period or a carryover, since money left over after that is lost.

• Consider a dependent care FSA if you pay for childcare

  It covers care such as daycare and after-school programs for children under 13, not medical bills.

• Check whether covering your spouse adds a surcharge

  Some employers charge extra to cover a spouse who could get insurance through their own job.

• Confirm everyone on your plan is still eligible

  Children can usually stay on a parent's plan until they turn 26.

• Compare the dental and vision plans with what you used this year
• Review your life and disability coverage
• Update your beneficiaries

  A beneficiary form generally decides who gets that money, whatever your will says. Check it after a marriage, divorce or birth.

• Decide on extra life insurance now if you want it

  Adding it later can mean answering health questions.

• Skip add-on policies that repeat coverage you already have

  Accident, critical illness and hospital plans pay fixed sums. Compare them with your medical plan's out-of-pocket maximum first.

• Complete any wellness step that lowers your premium

  Some employers want a screening or a form done by a set date.

• Check your retirement contribution rate while you are in the portal
• Submit your elections before the deadline
• Save or print the confirmation page
• Check the confirmation for wrong names, birth dates or missing dependents
• Check your first paycheck of the new plan year for the right deductions
• Use the new ID cards from your first appointment of the year

  If they have not arrived, most insurers let you download one from their app or website.

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