Annual Enrollment

Annual Enrollment: What’s New for 2025−2026

This year’s annual enrollment period is April 7 - 25, 2025, for benefit coverage for the plan year that begins June 1, 2025. It’s your opportunity to review your current benefits and make new choices based on your needs. Otherwise, you can’t make changes until next year’s annual enrollment unless you have a qualifying life change (like marriage, birth or adoption).

Our benefits and resources are focused on three pillars of wellness: physical, emotional and financial, with award-winning great benefits for great people.

This year, we continue to focus on the importance of preventive care — the foundation for a healthier future. Regular checkups help you stay ahead of potential health risks, manage conditions early, and lead to a healthier, fuller life.

• Be prepared: What you need to do

  1. Review the annual enrollment highlights for important information on what’s new with offerings, plan changes and coverage costs that could impact your choices.

  2. Watch the annual enrollment overview video.

  3. Attend the Virtual Benefits Fair: Opens April 7. Visit vendor booths anytime to view or download program resources. Attend live webinars and real-time chat on April 9 and 17 and, new this year, a live “what’s new for annual enrollment” presentation on April 10 at 8 p.m. ET. Recorded presentations will be available. Access the fair here or from the Benefit Moments home page.

     

  4. Visit the benefits enrollment website library: View resources such as medical option summaries, program brochures and benefit rates (paycheck contributions). Log into Colleague Zone. Go to My applications > View all > Benefits – Your Benefit Coverage.

  Get more support for your enrollment decisions with:

  • Virtual benefits assistant: Use Emma EnrollPro™ (formerly Ask Emma) to help you compare medical plans, coverages, costs and more. Emma now offers a more user-friendly design, integrated into the enrollment process for fast, simple benefits selection. On the benefits enrollment website, click “Help me decide” to get started with your personalized recommendations.

  • Personalized help by phone: Get one-on-one guidance from a CFP® Financial Coach from Financial Finesse as you make your medical plan and other elections. Call 1-866-291-7134, Mon. – Fri., 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET, or use web chat on the Financial Finesse hub on Colleague Zone. You can also attend a webinar and speak one-on-one with a coach to learn factors to consider. See the Virtual Benefits Fair for details.

  • Other medical plan or health questions: Call Aetna One® Advocate year-round at 1-800-558-0860 for all medical plan questions and help finding providers or other well-being resources.

  Decide if you want to make any changes to your benefits. If you don’t make any changes, most current coverages will continue at new 2025-2026 rates, with a few exceptions. See details under Take action.

  Enroll in benefits through Colleague Zone between Monday, April 7, and Friday, April 25.

  New this year: We are focused on the importance of preventive care, starting with all colleagues and enrolled spouses/partners completing an annual preventive visit. For the new plan year, we are introducing a Preventive Care Surcharge. Review the Preventive Care Surcharge Guide if you’re enrolling in medical coverage.

• Take Action

  Enroll or make changes through Colleague Zone between Monday, April 7, and Friday, April 25.

  • Review your current elections and make any changes. If applicable, re-elect Flexible Spending Account (FSA) contributions for the new plan year.

  • If enrolling a spouse/partner in medical coverage, review and, if necessary, update your working spouse/partner coverage attestation on the benefits enrollment website. A monthly surcharge of $150, deducted pretax, will apply if your spouse/partner has the option to elect subsidized medical coverage from his or her employer but instead enrolls in CVS Health medical coverage.

  • Review and, if necessary, update, your tobacco/nicotine status on the benefits enrollment website. A surcharge will apply to colleagues and spouses/partners enrolled in medical coverage who attest to using tobacco/nicotine two or more times per week. This pretax surcharge is assessed per individual, per pay period at $20.83 (semimonthly) or $19.23 (biweekly). This equals a $500 annual charge. You can receive a refund for completing one of our free cessation programs or submitting a Physician Statement; find details on the enrollment website.

  • Review your beneficiary information and email address on file to make sure they’re up to date.

  If you have enrollment questions or need assistance, call the HR Service Center at 1-888-694-7287 and say Health Care or press 1. Representatives are available between 8 a.m. and 12 a.m. ET, Monday through Friday, and between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday (April 12 and 13 and April 19 and 20).

  DON’T WAIT! Make sure you’ve completed your preventive visit anytime between June 1, 2024 through Aug. 31, 2025, and have your covered spouse/partner do the same, to each avoid the pretax preventive care surcharge assessed per individual, per pay period at $35.71 (semimonthly) or $33.33 (biweekly). This equals a $500 annual charge over the seven-month period from Nov. 1, 2025 – May 31, 2026.

• If you don’t actively choose your benefits for 2025-2026

  • Your current elections and coverage tiers continue (new rates apply) — see exceptions below for certain HSP 1 (APCN Plus) and Hybrid Engagement Plan pilot enrollees.

  • For HSP enrollees, your current HSA contribution amount continues.

  • Your working spouse/partner status as of April 25 will determine if the new plan year surcharge applies (if you enroll a spouse/partner in medical coverage who has the option to elect subsidized medical coverage through their employer).

  • Your tobacco/nicotine status as of April 25 will determine if the new plan year surcharge applies (if enrolled in medical coverage).

  • You will not have FSA deductions (must re-elect each year).

  Exceptions to current medical plan elections carrying over — If you’re currently enrolled in:

  • HSP 1 and live in one of the Aetna Premier Care Network (APCN) Plus markets: If you don’t take action:

    • If the APCN Plus network is discontinued (CT and NC), or if your ZIP code is dropped from an APCN Plus network, your coverage will continue in HSP 1 at your current coverage tier (HSP 1 rates will apply), but with Aetna Choice POS II.

    • If your ZIP code is added to an APCN Plus network, you’ll automatically be enrolled in HSP 2 (Aetna Choice POS II) at your current coverage tier.

  • HSP 1 with Kaiser Permanente: If you don’t take action, your coverage will continue in HSP 1 with the Aetna Choice POS II network at your current coverage tier. Aetna HSP 1 rates based on your Annual Benefits Base Rate (ABBR) will apply.

  • Hybrid Engagement Plan (HEP) pilot: If you don’t take action, you’ll automatically be enrolled in Hybrid Gold at your current coverage tier and you won’t have a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA).

• Don’t forget about your “anytime” benefits

  The following are available all year long (subject to eligibility rules):

  • 401(k) savings plan

  • Benefit Extras including auto and home/renters insurance, the Discount Center, pet health insurance and discounts, and purchase financing

  • Tuition Assistance Program

  • Colleague Discount Program

  • Paid Parental Leave Program