Open Enrollment For Group Health Insurance

Open enrollment is the window or period of time each year when you can make changes to your company health insurance elections. Generally speaking, except for when you are initially hired, unless you have had a qualifying event, you cannot change your health insurance coverage outside of open enrollment.

Open enrollment is usually sometime in October or November to give employees and employers a chance to make changes in time for the upcoming calendar year. Changes do not usually take effect until the first day of the New Year. If you have a family status change outside of open enrollment, you can change your insurance choices then as well. Family status changes include the adoption, birth, or death of a dependent child or spouse; marriage or divorce; and the loss of eligibility for health insurance benefits by your spouse. At these times, you can add or drop family members to your plan.