YOUR GUIDE TO OPEN ENROLLMENT

With health care costs on the rise, it’s critical to select a plan that fits your needs at the right price.

- LAURA PETRECCA

GET ready for one of the most important shopping periods of the year—and it has nothing to do with buying holiday gifts. As 2024 winds down, millions of Americans will choose their 2025 health insurance coverage through their employer, the Affordable Care Act marketplace or Medicare. While not as exciting as other seasonal shopping sprees, this period presents some of the most consequential buying decisions you’ll make.

“Most individuals get to shop only once a year, unless you have a qualifying event such as getting married, having a baby or a spouse losing their job. So take the time to understand what’s offered to you,” says Regina Ihrke, a senior director and North America health, equity and well-being leader for benefits consulting firm WTW.

Although the choices you make every year are important, what you select for 2025 is especially crucial, Ihrke says, because the accelerating pace of health care cost increases means you may pay more in premiums and other expenses.

If you do not have coverage from an employer, see the box on the facing page for information on purchasing ACA marketplace coverage. For a guide to Medicare open enrollment, which runs from October 15 through December 7, see the story on page 52.

ASSESS YOUR NEEDS

Start by pulling up each explanation of benefits you’ve received in 2024 and reviewing the health care services you used, says Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. This should give you a baseline for what you’ll need in 2025.

“See how many visits you had with specialists and primary care physicians. Look at what prescriptions you filled and how much they cost,” he says. While you can’t fully predict the expenses you’ll have next year, “you can make as informed a decision as possible based upon what you know.”