Decoding Your Group Benefits at Open Enrollment

Check the protection that matters most

Group life and disability are the benefits most often under-selected and most consequential when needed. Confirm the life coverage still replaces enough of your income for your family, and check whether the disability benefit is capped, taxable, or tied to an 'any occupation' definition — each of which shrinks what you'd actually receive. These are the benefits you can't buy cheaply later, so choosing well now matters.

• Confirm life insurance equals your real income-replacement need.
• Check the disability cap, tax treatment, and definition of disability.
• Use or reallocate any unused health spending account balance.

Mind the gaps group coverage leaves

Group benefits are a strong foundation, but they're not complete: they end when you leave the job, cap at amounts that may fall short for higher earners, and rarely include critical illness coverage. Open enrollment is a good prompt to identify what group doesn't cover and decide whether to fill it with an individual policy you own. Coverage you own travels with you; coverage tied to a job does not.

Choose with intention, not inertia

The default option is rarely the right one — it's simply the one that requires no thought. Twenty minutes of deliberate review during open enrollment can realign your benefits to the life you actually have now, rather than the one you had when you first enrolled. We help employees decode their group plan, identify the gaps, and decide what to elect and what to supplement, so the coverage that activates the day you need it is the coverage you chose on purpose.