2026 Open Enrollment

Available Health Care Benefits

Health

For 2026, you will have two Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) health plan options:

• BCBS Traditional PPO Health Plan with lower deductible and higher premiums.
• BCBS High Deductible Health Plan with lower premiums and a higher deductible.

Please review and plan details carefully to determine which option best meets your healthcare needs.

Family Coverage BCBS Traditional PPO Health Plan:

• Dental Employee Cost: $0.00
• Health Employee Cost: $412.38

Family Coverage BCBS High Deductible Health Plan:

• Dental Employee Cost: $0.00
• Health Employee Cost: $271.56

Single Coverage BCBS Traditional PPO Health Plan:

• Dental Employee Cost: $0.00
• Health Employee Cost: $174.78

Single Coverage BCBS High Deductible Health Plan:

• Dental Employee Cost: $0.00
• Health Employee Cost: $115.10

Dental

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Dental insurance will now be offered as a separate plan. To continue dental coverage, you must actively enroll in the dental plan during Open Enrollment. 

Vision Insurance

Keep your eyes healthy with University of Montevallo and VSP* Vision Care. Why enroll in VSP? Your eyes deserve the best care to keep them healthy year after year. Plus with VSP, you’ll get a great value on your eyecare and eyewear.

• Family Coverage is $21.15/month.
• Single Coverage is $9.84/month.

COBRA

COBRA is a federal law that requires most group health plans to give employees and their families the opportunity to continue their health care coverage when there is a “qualifying event.”

Flexible Spending Accounts for Health and Dependent Care

If you have not already done so, now may be a good time for you to consider participating in UM Flexible Spending Accounts administered by HealthEquity. Options include a health care account and dependent care account, which are designed to increase your disposable income by reducing the amount of taxes you pay. Enrollment in UM Flex Accounts allows you to use pre-tax dollars for out-of-pocket health/dental expenses, copays, deductibles and daycare expenses.

The dependent care account allows you to set aside pre-tax money from every paycheck to help pay for dependent care expenses. A qualifying dependent may be a child under age 13, a disabled spouse or an older parent in eldercare. Examples include:

• Daycare, nursery school and preschool
• Summer day camp
• Elder daycare
• Before and after school programs

Enrollment and re-enrollment in the UM Flex Health and Dependent Care Spending Account plans must be completed during Open Enrollment to be effective January 1, 2026. The annual limit on employee salary reduction contributions to the Health FSA is currently $3,400. The IRS may increase the maximum contribution amount, and if you enroll at the maximum amount, you will be notified of the increase. If you enroll, HealthEquity will send you a debit card and welcome kit explaining how to use the account. Unused employee contributions to the Health FSA for the 2025 plan year that are carried over into the grace period for that plan year will not count toward the $3,400 limit for the 2026 plan year.

Current participants: You must re-enroll during the Open Enrollment period in order to participate during the 2026 benefit year. The annual maximum employee salary reduction contribution for the Dependent Care FSA is projected to increase to $7,500, or $3,750 for married taxpayers filing separate returns. Please be aware that any remaining balance in UM Flex accounts as of March 15, 2026, for the Health Spending Account and Dec. 31, 2025, for the Dependent Care Account, will be forfeited according to IRS guidelines. Please note that funds from UM Flex Accounts may not be available immediately in January 2026 due to large enrollment volume and processing requirements required by BCBS and HealthEquity.

These accounts are administered though HealthEquity.  When you incur a qualified medical expense, you will be able to pay with the HealthEquity® Visa® Reimbursement Account Card or submit the expense through the HealthEquity online tool for reimbursement. It is important to remember to save all receipts as you will need them for reimbursements and to possibly validate your expenses with HealthEquity.

Grace Period

The grace period provision provides for a delay to the “use it or lose it rule” under traditional FSA plans. The grace period allows for money remaining in a Health FSA at the end of a plan year to carry over to cover eligible expenses incurred through the 15th day of the third month after the plan year ends. This does not eliminate the “use it or lose it rule” completely. Any unused amounts from the prior plan year that are not used to reimburse expenses by the end of the grace period remain subject to the “use it or lose it rule” and must be forfeited.

If you have questions concerning your Flexible Spending Account, please contact HealthEquity, Inc.

For more information, visit www.healthequity.com.

HealthEquity Member Services: 1-877-288-0719 memberservices@healthequity.com