How-to: Open Enrollment Decision Worksheet (Education Only)
Open enrollment is a timed window where you choose benefits for the next plan year. The portal is full of acronyms. This how-to is a decision worksheet, not advice about which plan is “best,” and not tax, legal, or medical advice. Your company’s SPD, HR site, and licensed advisors (when you use them) are the source of truth.
Time box: 45 minutes once you have the plan documents open: 15 minutes to gather facts, 20 minutes to fill the worksheet, 10 minutes to enter choices and save confirmations.
Start from how HR works so you know what HR can answer versus what a broker or tax professional covers. New employees should also skim the New hire hub for first-year benefits timing (hire date rules often differ from annual enrollment).
When to use / when not
Use when:
– Your company announced an open enrollment window
– You have plan summaries (medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, life, disability, commute, etc.)
– You need a calm comparison before clicking submit
– Family status might change (marriage, dependents, partner coverage)
Do not use when:
– You are asking this page to pick a plan for you (it will not)
– You need personalized tax or investment advice (talk to a qualified professional)
– You are mid-qualifying life event and need HR’s process, not a DIY worksheet
– Medical questions about treatment belong with clinicians, not a workplace blog
Prep
Gather before the 45 minutes:
- Enrollment deadline and confirmation method (email, portal PDF)
- Current plan names and what you actually used last year (claims, prescriptions, visits) if you have records
- Preferred providers: check network tools for doctors you care about
- HSA vs FSA eligibility notes from your employer materials
- Partner/spouse open enrollment dates if coordinating coverage
- Emergency contact and beneficiary info ready
Bookmark HR’s FAQ. Do not rely on Slack rumors about “everyone picks PPO.”
Steps
- List decisions, not vendors (5 min). Medical tier, dental/vision, spending accounts, voluntary life, disability, other. One row per decision.
- Fill cost columns (10 min). Employee premium (paycheck), employer contribution if shown, deductible, out-of-pocket max, HSA/FSA contribution limits as published by your employer/IRS materials for that year.
- Usage reality check (10 min). High / medium / low expected care for the household this year based on what you know. This is a planning assumption, not a prediction you must defend.
- Compare two finalists (10 min). For medical, rarely more than two realistic options. Note network fit and prescription rules from the plan docs.
- Enter and screenshot (5–10 min). Submit in the portal. Save confirmation PDFs. Add beneficiaries where required.
- Calendar a mid-year check only if your company allows changes at life events; otherwise note the next annual window.
Managers: do not interpret plans for your team. Point them to HR and this worksheet mindset. See the New Manager hub for boundaries on benefits questions.
Script (what to say / send)
Question to HR (facts only):
Hi, I’m comparing [Plan A] and [Plan B] during open enrollment. Can you confirm: (1) deadline and how I receive confirmation, (2) whether [provider name] appears in-network on the tool of record, (3) HSA eligibility if I pick [plan], and (4) where beneficiary designations are stored? Thank you.
To a partner coordinating coverage:
I’m drafting our enrollment worksheet tonight. Can you send your premium and deductible numbers for [plan] so we don’t double-cover or leave a gap? We’ll decide by [date], before my portal deadline.
If a coworker asks “what should I pick?”:
I can’t recommend a plan. I’m using a cost-and-usage worksheet and HR’s docs. Happy to share the blank questions I used, not my personal choice.
Output artifact
Open Enrollment Decision Worksheet (copy into a doc):
Plan year / deadline:
Household covered: [me / +partner / +dependents]
Decision | Option A | Option B | Notes from plan docs
Medical | | | network / Rx / deductible / OOP max
Dental | | |
Vision | | |
HSA/FSA | | | eligibility + contribution intent
Life / AD&D | | | beneficiary done? Y/N
Disability | | |
Other | | |
Paycheck impact (from portal estimates):
Expected care assumption: high / medium / low
Final choices:
Confirmation file saved: [link/folder]
Open questions for HR:
Keep confirmations with your personal records, not in a shared team drive.
Watch-outs
- Education only. Nothing here is a recommendation to elect or waive coverage.
- Stale PDFs. Use this year’s documents. Prior-year deductibles mislead.
- Network assumptions. “They’re big, so my doctor is in” is not verification.
- Missing beneficiaries. Life insurance without a beneficiary creates preventable pain.
- Peer pressure. The loudest person on your team is not your actuary.
- Waiting until the last hour. Portals slow down near deadlines. Draft early, submit with buffer.
Workplace money topics beyond benefits (expenses, budgets) live under finance for non-finance managers and the expense report clean pass how-to. Sales and IC readers still enroll like everyone else; stage hubs such as Individual Contributor do not replace HR’s portal.
Done looks like: worksheet filled from current docs, choices submitted, confirmations saved, and no reliance on hallway advice.