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This is US-specific, apologies in advances for folks who don't work in the United States.

Every year open enrollment comes around and any employee who does not go into the system and select options from a bewildering array of slightly different insurance products is screwed. Every year I have to go in and devote not inconsiderable mental effort to signing up for insurance for myself and my family just to return to the status quo from the current year.

I understand why open enrollment exists, and it's fine, but why is there not an automatic renewal or at least a checkbox that says "keep everything the same"?

Don't get me wrong, at a technical level as a software engineer I realize that election boils down to a row in a database keyed to a specific product ID for a plan that might be custom to an employer and renegotiated every year (i.e. it no longer exists when the proposed "renewal" happens).

But to call the lack of auto-renew an affront to usability would be the understatement of the century: people leave jobs because of this. Lives are ruined because of this.

Is there something I'm missing here in terms of why I can't auto-renew or one-click renew my annual health insurance coverage? Any human resources folks able to weigh in on this?

EDIT

Apparently what I'm asking for is a thing, it's just that I've never worked any place that had it. Thanks to everybody who chimed in on their experiences with this.

Jared Smith
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    This feels more like a rant than a specific workplace focused question. There are so many things one can rant about related to US healthcare, so I feel for you, but I had to downvote. – Robin Clower Oct 31 '22 at 13:28
  • @RobinClower I mean, I'm pretty aggravated about it yes, but I have a serious question: what am I missing? This seems (while maybe not totally trivial to implement per my comment about the technical details) like a no-brainer. In my experience usually when there's a state of affairs that is obviously sub-optimal there's usually some non-obvious reason why it persists. – Jared Smith Oct 31 '22 at 13:36
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    This seems to be related to the tools that your employer uses for open enrollment and/or their configuration of this tool. My employer has this. The only time that I need to take explicit steps is if an option has no direct equivalent. – Thomas Owens Oct 31 '22 at 14:45
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    This is definitely company-specific. I've never had to redo things other than when the insurance provider changed. – Loren Pechtel Oct 31 '22 at 19:59

2 Answers2

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Why is there no automatic option to keep everything the same during open enrollment?

It depends on the company. I have worked for companies that said if you like what you have you don't have to do anything at all during open season. The exceptions to this policy are when they made a major change, such as switching insurance companies, or when they added another major option such a high deductible option.

Other companies make multiple changes each year so that you have to make new choices.

One reason why they might have to make you re-confirm your choices, is if the Federal limits on a benefit change such as with a flexible spending arrangement (FSA). Since you are locked into your choices for the entire year (unless you have a qualifying life event), they want you to make your per paycheck choice based on the updated limits.

mhoran_psprep
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  • That makes sense, although same as my comment on Xavier J's answer I'm curious why there's no "hey this changed you may want to check your FSA allowance" instead of having to basically fill out stuff from scratch. You story of employers that didn't make you do that is encouraging, maybe it just hasn't hit saturation and I'm drinking at the wrong watering holes. – Jared Smith Oct 31 '22 at 13:42
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There's no automatic option because what's covered under health plans can change slightly from year to year, no different than how terms under leasing an apartment can change from year to year. Plans have to change for government regulations. Plans have definitely had to adjust because of the pandemic. There are a multitude of reasons.

Accordingly, if the services you can expect from year to year can change (again, like leasing an apartment) then from a liability standpoint it's best for the insurers to have on record that the insured customers are explicitly agreeing to new service terms from year to year. This prevents a lot of headaches and cuts down on litigation.

Your post really does sound like a rant. When you consider the amount of money involved in the health insurance industry, and the number of potential legal actions that what you're proposing may expose the insurance companies to (whether bona fide or from fraudsters just trying to grab a settlement), this shouldn't be too hard to understand.

Xavier J
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  • Okay, I get that, so why is there no diff-based "here's what's changing, tick the box to accept" option? I'm just saying that having to fill out the entire thing every year just seems unnecessarily complicated. – Jared Smith Oct 31 '22 at 13:40
  • Dude. sigh It's really important to think of end results. Try your 'here's what's changed' approach in a situation where someone is trying to sue an insurance company. They sign up in year X and do ten years of your 'here's what's changed', and then sue. How does a court piece together what the company is liable for or not, with this method? It doesn't, not easily. Your proposal multiplies the paper-trail astronomically, and taking anything to trial could bankrupt the insurance companies. – Xavier J Oct 31 '22 at 13:47
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    @JaredSmith, With the cost of health care sky rocketing year after year, insurance companies are incentivized to reduce your benefits as much as they can without you noticing until it's too late. So if you want a diff tool, you've got to build it yourself. No one is as incentivized to keep track of these changes as much as you are (and by you, I mean you and your fellow employees under those plans). – Stephan Branczyk Oct 31 '22 at 19:13
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    @JaredSmith - There normally is. OPM which handles hundreds of thousands of employees publishes the health care options every day year for instance. – Donald Nov 02 '22 at 20:06