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2027 Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to review, enroll in, waive current coverage, or make changes to your medical, dental, vision, or life insurance; flexible spending accounts; a health savings account; disability coverage; and the legal plan. Changes are effective January 1, 2027.

With the exception of FSA and HSA elections, all coverage elections will rollover to 2027, unless you make a change during Open Enrollment.

Do You Need to Participate in Open Enrollment for 2027?

  • YES: If you want to change plans, add or drop a dependent, waive current coverage, or enroll in an FSA or HSA, you must make these changes during Open Enrollment.
  • NO: If you do not want to make changes to your benefit plans and you do not want to participate in an FSA or HSA for 2027, no action is required.

Changes to 403(b) retirement plans, commuter benefits, pet insurance, PerkSpot discounts, and tuition benefits can be made at any time. Outside of Open Enrollment, changes can only be made if you experience a qualifying event.

As mentioned in the leadership message, there are no changes to plan administrators, plan options (PPO, HSA Plus, HSA Essential, or HMO), costs of deductibles, co-pays, or out-of-pocket maximum amounts for 2027.

Note the enrollment portal will open on October 26, 2026.
The information below is available to help you prepare for Open Enrollment.

How to Enroll

Between October 26 and November 13, 2026

  1. Log in to myHR

    Log in to the myHR Self Service Portal using your NetID and password (having trouble logging in?), or access the system on your mobile device using the Benefitplace app

  2. Find Your Benefits

    Select the Benefits tile and click My Health Benefits Elections on the left side of the screen. If the page does not open, disable your pop-up blocker (see the Pop-Up Blocker Guide).

  3. Get Enrolled

    Click the Get Started button on the right side of screen to complete your enrollment.

Please note: Changes to 403(b) retirement plans, commuter benefits, pet insurance, PerkSpot discounts, and tuition benefits can be made at any time.

Need help choosing a plan?

Watch and Learn

Explore on Your Own

Open Enrollment FAQs

For answers to questions about benefits and plans explore the FAQs.

Decision Support Tool

[Coming Soon!] Log in with your Northwestern credentials to access the Upwise decision support tool and compare medical plans.

Updates and Announcements

Looking for Benefits updates and announcements?
Bookmark the Benefits Updates and Announcements page to stay up to date and access an archive of past messages.

Benefits Information for 2027

2027 FSA & HSA Contribution Limits

Updated FSA and HSA Limits
Account Limit
Dependent Care FSA $7,500
Health Care and Limited Use FSA $3,400 [Will be updated once IRS releases 2027 limits ]
Health Savings Account $4,500 Employee Only / $9,000 Family

Key Plan and Coverage Information

Table listing 2027 benefits updates organized by category and detailed descriptions.
Category / Topic Details and Changes

Plan & Rate Summaries

Medical and prescription drug plan design and premiums can be found on the website as well as via the Medical and Rx Plans at a Glance summary. PPO Dental premiums can be found on the website. No changes to premiums for the  HMO Dental or Vision plans.  

Included Health Programs

Explore programs offered to faculty and staff through the Northwestern medical plan, such as Hinge Health and Teladoc for Diabetes (formerly Livongo), on the website. 

Behavioral Health Out-of-Network Continuity

Those who elected to enroll in the behavior health Transition of Care program may continue to use their providers at the higher rate of coverage through the end of 2027. 

Dependent Care FSA Match

Eligibility to receive matching Dependent Care FSA funds will be expanded to households with adjusted gross income limit to $150,000. Learn about the match on the website.

Medical Plan Options Available

Northwestern offers four health plans through UnitedHealthcare (UHC): PPO, HSA Plus, HSA Essential, and HMO.  All four plans pay 100% of the cost of applicable preventive care. The PPO, HSA Plus, and HSA Essential Plans utilize the same list of in-network providers and provide coverage for the same services. 

You will be automatically enrolled in prescription drug coverage with CVS Caremark when you enroll in a medical plan. 

View the Medical and Rx Plans at a Glance for a side-by-side comparison of the plans and premiums.

Plan Highlights: PPO, HSA Plans, and HMO

Overview of Medical coverage options for PPO, HSA Plus or HSA Essential, and HMO plans.
Plan Plan Highlight

PPO

You pay a copay for certain medical services (for example, office visits with your primary care physician or a specialist). For most other covered medical services, this plan provides benefits based on coinsurance once you meet the annual deductible. If you choose this plan, you can receive services from any provider you choose, but you will pay less out of pocket and receive more plan benefits from an in-network provider.

HSA Plus or HSA Essential

Once you meet the annual deductible, these plans provide benefits for covered medical services based on coinsurance. Refer to chart on the next page for plan differences.If you choose one of these plans, you can receive services from any provider you choose, but you will pay less out of pocket and receive more plan benefits from an in-network provider. You can make pretax contributions to a Health Savings Account with the same matching University contributions. The University match has not changed in 2027. You can use the pretax money in the HSA to pay for eligible health care expenses or invest it.

HMO

Once you pay any applicable copay, this plan pays the full cost of covered services you receive from a provider who is a member of the HMO network. You must elect a in-network primary care provider with UHC during Open Enrollment. The provider’s name will be printed on your ID card. If you do not elect a provider at enrollment, one will be assigned to you. You have the option to change your primary care provider once per month with UHC. You must receive a referral from your primary care provider before you can see a specialist. This plan pays no benefits for services from an out-of-network provider except for emergency medical care.

HSA Plus vs. HSA Essential

Side-by-side comparison of HSA Plus and HSA Essential plan similarities and differences for individual and dependent coverage.
Similarities Differences

Both are High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) eligible for Northwestern’s HSA with same matching contributions.

Deductibles and OOPMs vary between plans.

If You Cover Dependents
Each family member has an individual out-of-pocket maximum (OOPM). Once met, the plan pays 100% for that member, regardless of whether the full family OOPM is reached. The remaining OOPM must be met by other members before their coverage reaches 100%.

If You Cover Dependents
HSA Plus requires the full family deductible to be met before coinsurance begins for any member. HSA Essential allows coinsurance to begin for a member once their individual deductible is met, regardless of the overall family deductible. Remaining family members must meet the rest of the family deductible before their coinsurance begins.

They use the same UHC Choice Plus PPO network and cover the same services.

 

Prescription Drug Coverage

You will be automatically enrolled in prescription drug coverage with CVS Caremark when you enroll in a medical plan. CVS Caremark has over 60,000 in-network pharmacies, with national providers such as Costco, Walmart, Osco, CVS, and Walgreens.

Review the prescription drug coverage website to find an in-network pharmacy, verify how your prescriptions will be covered, and learn more about how the benefit works.

Additional Benefits

Flexible Spending Accounts

If you do not enroll during Open Enrollment, your Health Care, Limited Purpose, or Dependent Care Flexible Spending account election(s) will be $0 for 2027. You can update your Health Savings Account elections during Open Enrollment or at any time during the year.

Life Insurance

You may increase, decrease, or enroll in Employee Supplemental, Spouse Supplemental, and Dependent Child term life insurance benefits. Evidence of Insurability may apply; see websites for more information.

Action Required: Review Your Beneficiary Designations Before Enrolling
Review your current life insurance beneficiary designation by using the myHR Self Service Portal. If you do not change this beneficiary designation during Open Enrollment, you will be deemed to have agreed that this beneficiary designation is correct and that any other prior beneficiary designation, whether written or electronic, is revoked.

Legal Plan

You may enroll or waive your current elections for the Legal Plan.

Disability

You may enroll or waive your current elections for the Long Term Disability 10% Buy-up plan.

New Dependents

If you will be covering new dependents on the medical plan, please prepare your verification documentation.

Resources and Planning Tools

Getting Answers to Your Questions

Contact Support

Support is available through United Healthcare, CVS Caremark, and the askHR Support Center.

UHC: For questions about medical coverage, PPO and HSA plans call: 833-314-1787, HMO plans call: 855-828-7715. You can also email UHC at northwestern@uhc.com.

CVS Caremark: For questions about prescription drug coverage or to verify how your medication is covered call: 833-844-5348.

askHR: For general benefits questions, call: 847-491-4700 or email askHR@northwestern.edu.

Explore FAQs

Can't find your answer on this site? Visit our FAQs for quick answers to common community questions.

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