You get one short window to set your health coverage. Autopilot choices quietly overpay by hundreds or expose you to bills you never priced.
Why this one window matters
With employer health costs rising again into 2026, plans are quietly shifting more expense onto deductibles, networks, and drug tiers. Open enrollment is your one chance a year to respond. These are the mistakes that turn a 30 minute task into a 12 month overpayment.
Mistake one and two: autopilot and premium tunnel vision
Auto renewing assumes your plan did not change. It almost certainly did: premiums, deductibles, drug formularies, and provider networks all reset annually. Read the plan change summary line by line. Second, judge plans on total expected cost. Add the annual premium to what a typical year of your visits, prescriptions, and planned procedures would cost under each plan’s deductible and copays. The cheapest premium frequently loses this math.
Mistakes three through five: networks, drugs, and the HSA question
Confirm your actual doctors, hospital, and each prescription against next year’s network and formulary, not last year’s memory. If you are choosing a high deductible plan, verify it is HSA qualified and capture the triple tax advantage, especially any employer HSA contribution, which is free money. If you expect predictable costs like therapy or orthodontics, price the FSA too, minding its use it or lose it rules.
Mistakes six and seven: the family split and the deadline
Couples often assume one family plan is best; sometimes splitting, each spouse on their own employer plan, or kids on one side, prices dramatically better, particularly with per spouse surcharges. Run both versions. Finally, calendar the deadline the day the window opens. Miss it and you are locked in, or out, until next year absent a qualifying life event. An hour of comparison here routinely beats most money moves you will make all year.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a qualifying life event mid year?
Events like marriage, divorce, a new child, moving, or losing other coverage open a special enrollment period. Ordinary regret does not, which is why the annual window deserves real attention.
Is the lowest premium plan the cheapest?
Only if you use little care. Frequent visits or ongoing prescriptions often make a higher premium, lower deductible plan cheaper in total. Model a normal year and a bad year before choosing.
