Open Enrollment for 2027: What Your Employees Are Actually Asking Us

By the end of this enrollment season I will have sat in front of a few thousand employees across Central Florida. The questions have changed. Three years ago it was "which plan is cheapest." This year it is sharper, and if you run a company I think you should know what your people are asking.

"Is my weight-loss medication still covered?"

This is the number one question in 2027 meetings and it did not exist two years ago. With employer coverage of GLP-1s for weight loss dropping from 72% to 60% and more groups changing criteria for 2027, employees have heard from friends that coverage is going away and they want a straight answer. If your plan is changing, put it in the first paragraph of your enrollment announcement, with the new criteria and the alternatives. If it is not changing, say that. The silence is what creates the anxiety.

"Why did my out-of-pocket maximum go up?"

The federal cap jumped to $12,000 for 2027 and some carriers moved their plans up with it. Employees notice the number on the summary even when they cannot explain it. Have a one-sentence answer ready and make sure HR knows whether the increase was the carrier's decision or yours.

"What is the difference between the HSA plan and the other one, really?"

Still the most common follow-up. The new 2027 limits, $4,500 for an individual and $9,000 for a family, are good news, but the account only makes sense once someone walks through a real year of costs. Show one example, in dollars, for a typical employee and a typical family. We do this on a whiteboard and it works better than any PDF.

"Can I afford the family tier?"

With trend running 8% to 10% for 2027, family premiums on some plans are now a mortgage payment. Employees are asking about spousal carve-outs, whether a child can stay on the plan, and whether they should split coverage with a spouse's employer. Give HR the facts on each so they are not guessing.

What is working for the calm groups

The employers whose meetings go smoothly are doing a few simple things.

They start three to four weeks out with what changed, in plain language, before anything else. They send short messages more than once rather than one long email. They give frontline and field employees printed one-pagers and a text reminder, because those teams do not live in their inbox. They name a person, a real name and extension, for questions, and they let us sit in for the first week.

And they tell the truth about costs. Employees can handle a premium increase. What they cannot handle is finding out about it after they have already enrolled.

One more thing

If you have a group where enrollment is a ten-minute online task and nobody ever asks a question, that is usually not a sign of a well-understood plan. It is a sign nobody expects an answer. Invite us to the next one. The questions above are coming either way, and they go a lot better when there is someone in the room who can answer them.