Navigating Open Enrollment: Tips for Employees to Maximize Benefits

Open enrollment is the one window each year when you can change your health insurance, dental, vision, life, and other workplace benefits without a qualifying life event. Most employer plans run it in the fall, with changes taking effect January 1. Miss it, and you are locked into your current elections until next year.

Here is what actually matters during those few weeks.

Do Not Just Roll Over Last Year’s Elections

Most employers auto-enroll you in the same plan if you do nothing. That is convenient, but it is not always right. Plans change from year to year: premiums go up, networks shift, drug formularies get updated. Take 20 minutes to actually review your options before the deadline.

Health Insurance: What to Compare

Focus on total cost, not just the monthly premium. A lower-premium plan with a $4,000 deductible costs more than a higher-premium plan if you use your benefits regularly.

Key numbers to compare: monthly premium, deductible, out-of-pocket maximum, and whether your current doctors are in-network. In the DMV, network coverage matters a lot. CareFirst, Kaiser, and United Healthcare all have different footprints across DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia, and switching plans can mean switching doctors.

If you are offered a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), check whether it is paired with an HSA. An HSA lets you set aside pre-tax dollars for medical expenses, and the money rolls over year to year. For healthy employees who do not use much care, an HDHP plus HSA often beats a traditional plan on total cost.

Retirement: Max Your Employer Match First

If your employer matches 401(k) contributions and you are not contributing at least enough to capture the full match, open enrollment is a good time to fix that. An employer match is part of your compensation, and leaving it on the table is leaving money behind.

The 2025 401(k) contribution limit is $23,500 for employees under 50, with an additional $7,500 catch-up contribution allowed if you are 50 or older.

FSA vs. HSA: Know the Difference

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are both pre-tax, but they work differently. FSAs are use-it-or-lose-it by year-end (with a small rollover option at some employers). HSAs are yours to keep and invest. You can only open an HSA if you are enrolled in a qualifying high-deductible plan.

If you have an FSA with a remaining balance heading into fall, plan how you will spend it before year-end.

Life and Disability Insurance

Employer-provided life insurance is usually a flat amount like one or two times your salary. If you have dependents, that is rarely enough. Open enrollment is often when you can buy additional coverage without a medical exam, which is a meaningful advantage if you have health conditions that would make individual coverage expensive.

Check your disability coverage too. Short-term disability fills the gap before long-term kicks in. If your employer offers both, make sure you understand the waiting period.

Update Your Beneficiaries

Open enrollment is also a good time to review beneficiary designations on your life insurance and retirement accounts. Marriage, divorce, a new child, or the death of a previously named beneficiary all warrant an update. Beneficiary designations override your will, so they need to reflect your actual wishes.

Qualifying Life Events Outside Open Enrollment

If you miss open enrollment, you can still make changes if you have a qualifying life event: getting married or divorced, having or adopting a child, losing other coverage, or moving out of your plan’s network area. You typically have 30 to 60 days from the event to make changes.

Questions about what your current plan covers, or whether a different option makes sense for your situation? Our advisors work with businesses and individuals across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Reach out and we will walk through it with you.