Your Guide To Open Enrollment

You may have more health insurance options for 2020. But you’ll need to work harder to find the one that’s right for you.

- Lisa Gerstner

When your employer rolls out its menu of health insurance benefits this fall, don’t be surprised if you have more options than you did last year. As companies try to cater to workers’ diverse needs, they’re dishing out a broader selection of plans. Employers say that offering or expanding benefit choices is their highest priority over the next three years, according to a survey from consultant Willis Towers Watson. To help keep your premiums and their own costs down, companies have been adding high deductible plans linked to a health savings account—or even dropping traditional plans from their menu and making a high-deductible plan the only option. But among large employers, the number of organizations offering only a high deductible plan will fall to 25% in 2020, according to a survey by the National Business Group on Health, compared with 30% in 2019 and 39% in 2018.

WEIGH THE CHOICES

Greater choice is a good thing—but you’ll have to study up to ensure that your plan meets your medical needs at the lowest cost. In 2020, employers expect the cost of health care benefits to rise by 5%, according to the NBGH survey. The projected total cost per employee (including any family members on the plan) next year is $15,375, compared with $14,642 in 2019. The NBGH didn’t estimate average premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for 2020, but in 2019, workers at large companies picked up nearly $4,500 of the tab in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, and employers shouldered the rest.