About Open Enrollment

Benefits Open Enrollment for 2026: Oct. 27–Nov. 7

Annual Benefits Open Enrollment for the 2026 benefits year will run from October 27 through November 7, 2025.

This is your opportunity to review and select your benefits for the upcoming year, including making any changes to your current elections. Please take a moment to read the important updates below about changes to our medical and dental plans, completing your enrollment in Workday, and other key benefit enhancements.

Reminder: After the enrollment window closes, changes to your benefits are only allowed if you experience a qualifying life event.

Medical Plan Updates

We conducted a Request for Proposal (RFP) for medical plans to ensure competitive pricing and sustainable coverage options. After careful deliberations and input from the University Benefits Committee, we have selected Anthem as our new medical plan provider for 2026.

The University will continue to offer three medical plan choices in 2026: two high-deductible health plans and an open access plan (the current Choice plan). There are no changes to plan designs for 2026. The University will continue to contribute approximately 80% of the total premium cost for our Health Insurance Plan while employees pay approximately 20% of premium expense. More information regarding how the University’s medical plan is structured and why can be found on our Medical Plan FAQs page.

  • Premiums will increase under Anthem, but the switch significantly reduced the increase we would have faced by staying with Cigna.
  • Through a new feature offered by Anthem, every employee and their covered dependent will have their own dedicated Anthem Family Advocate
  • As noted above, the University will continue to offer the following plans in 2026
    • Base High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP)
    • Value HDHP
    • Choice Open Access Plan
  • HSA Contribution Update: Employees enrolled in the Base HDHP are now eligible for an additional University contribution if their annual salary is $50,000 or less.  In recent years, only employees with annual salaries of $40,000 or less were eligible for the additional University HSA contribution.  

New Enrollment System: Workday

This year, all employee benefit enrollments will take place in the Workday system.

  • Action Required: All employees must log in to Workday to review and submit their 2026 benefit elections — even if you are not making any changes. The Open Enrollment job aide may be found at https://workday.richmond.edu/get-help/index.html#hr.
  • Important: After submitting your elections, Workday may prompt you to complete additional steps based on your selections, these may include:
    • Verifying dependent(s)
    • Completing the annual spousal attestation
    • Completing the annual HSA attestation
    • Completing the annual waiver attestation

All steps must be completed by the deadline: Friday, November 7, 2025. If you do not complete all required tasks in Workday, you may not receive the coverage you intended to elect. Please see the Next Steps section below for information sessions, benefit fairs and enrollment labs where enrollment resources will be available if needed. 

Dental Plan Updates

Dental coverage will remain with Delta Dental, but please note:

  • Premiums will increase in 2026 after three years of no increase.
  • There are a few plan design changes — see the updated Benefits Guide for details.

Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Update

  • The annual maximum contribution will increase from $5,000 to $7,500 for 2026.

Voluntary Life Insurance: One-Time Opportunity

This year, we’re offering a special enrollment window:

  • Employees and spouses may enroll in or increase Voluntary Life Insurance without Evidence of Insurability (EOI), up to the guaranteed issue limit.
  • This opportunity is only available during this year’s Open Enrollment.

Important Info for Medical Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Participants

If you currently have a medical FSA and are moving to a high-deductible health plan and HSA plan in 2026, please note:

  • Unused 2025 Medical FSA funds will not carry over into 2026 due to IRS regulations.
  • You have until March 30, 2026, to file claims for eligible 2025 expenses.

Bi-weekly Employee Premiums

There will be 27 pay periods in 2026 instead of the usual 26. All annual premiums will be evenly divided across the 26 pay checks. There will be no benefit premiums deducted from the last BW paycheck on 12/31/26.

Next Steps

We encourage you to take time to explore your options, discuss them with members of your household, and choose benefits that align with your goals and needs. Your well-being is our priority, and we’re committed to offering benefit options that support your health needs.

  • Attend our Open Enrollment events
    We’ve made it easy for you to learn more about your benefits and get support during Open Enrollment. Here’s what’s available:
  • Multiple Information Sessions to walk you through your options
  • Three Workday Labs to assist with the new enrollment system (Workday)
  • Three Benefits Fairs, where you can:
    • Receive a flu shot
    • Pick up swag from vendors
    • Talk to representatives from our benefit providers and get your questions answered

The full schedule of sessions, labs, and fairs is available on our Open Enrollment website and at the end of this message. 

Check out our Open Enrollment Resources

If you have any questions, please contact us by calling 804-289-8747 or by emailing URHR@richmond.edu. Thank you for taking the time to review your benefits and make informed decisions for 2026.

Important Documents & Notices

Important documents and notices regarding the University of Richmond Employee Welfare Benefits Plan (the “Plan”) are available online. The documents and notices provide information about your enrollment opportunities, benefits, coverage, rights and obligations under the Plan. The documents are available here. (Because the documents are in PDF format, you may need to download Adobe Reader in order to be able to read the documents.) You have the right to request a paper copy of the documents, free of charge, by contacting urhr@richmond.edu.