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Preparing for Open Enrollment

Waiting Period: the length of time that employees must work at a company before their coverage is effective.

Termination Policy: when terminated employees are removed from the group insurance plan, which can either be the same day or the last day of that month.

Plan Mapping: determines which plan the employee will be auto enrolled in if they do not participate in open enrollment. Insurance carriers typically "map" or auto enroll employees to a new plan. This prevents employees from being terminated from the insurance plan unknowingly. We recommend matching the insurance carrier's plan mapping. Depending on the type of open enrollment, this can be one of the following situations:

  • Same carrier, same plans: in most cases, the current year's plan should be mapped to the same plan for the upcoming year.
  • Same carrier, new plans: the current year's plan should be mapped to the plan most similar for the upcoming year, or set to "Do not auto renew."

Here are a few things to keep in mind when determining when to begin and end open enrollment.

  • How long do your employees need to participate in open enrollment? Some employers have found that shorter open enrollment is most effective for increasing participation since it helps prevent procrastination. Other employers choose a longer open enrollment period. We recommend an open enrollment of anywhere from 1-4 weeks.  The start time selected will determine when employees will receive the Open Enrollment email, inviting them to participate (in Pacific Time).

  • Does your insurance carrier have a lead time? Some insurance carriers have a lead time, or deadline, for submitting plan changes. You'll want to be sure to end open enrollment with enough time to submit plan changes before the carrier deadline.

  • Are you switching insurance carriers? If you're switching to a new carrier or offering new plans for the first time, you'll want to give yourself some extra time after open enrollment ends so that employee enrollments can be processed by the insurance carrier in time for employees to receive their new insurance information before the effective date.

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Open Enrollment

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