Open Enrollment’s Missing Benefit

Why understanding your symptoms beats a bigger plan

Every fall, open enrollment arrives with the same message: health coverage costs more than it did last year.

According to Business Group on Health, employers are anticipating a median healthcare cost increase of 9.2% in 2027, with plan design changes expected to bring that down to approximately 8%. Meanwhile, KFF reports that the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $26,993 in 2025, with employees contributing an average of $6,850 of that amount.

That’s a significant amount of money, especially when you consider that employees may still face deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and other out-of-pocket expenses when they actually need care.

As benefits professionals, we spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to manage these costs. We negotiate renewals, evaluate networks, analyze claims, introduce new programs, and look for ways to stretch every healthcare dollar.

But after years in this industry, I’ve come to believe we’re overlooking something that could make a meaningful difference.

We’re spending a lot of money helping people access healthcare. Are we spending enough time helping them understand their health?

We’re Paying More, but Are We Getting Healthier?

Six in ten American adults live with at least one chronic condition, and about 90% of the nation’s $4.9 trillion in annual health care spending goes to people with chronic and mental health conditions (CDC). Any honest conversation about health costs starts there.

Behind those numbers are real people, and many of them are frustrated.

Someone feels tired, foggy, bloated, or achy for months. They wait weeks for a short appointment. Basic labs come back normal, and they hear that everything looks fine, or that it is probably just age. They may leave with a prescription for the symptom and a bill for the visit.

When the problem does not go away, the cycle repeats with a specialist. More labs, maybe a new diagnosis with an unfamiliar name, often another prescription added to the ones already in the cabinet. Six months later, they’re still dealing with the same symptoms, only now they’ve seen three different practitioners, paid for several appointments, and accumulated a collection of prescriptions and supplements.

Most of the practitioners involved are dedicated people working inside a system built around short visits and fast decisions. Still, the result for many employees is the same. They pay more every year and still do not feel well, and their employers pay for the same unresolved problems year after year.

Motivation and Knowledge

I’ve had the opportunity to work with Dr. Gerard Guillory, a board-certified internist who practiced medicine for nearly four decades and focused much of his career on functional and root-cause approaches to health.

Dr. Guillory founded It’s My Health, an organization dedicated to helping people better understand their health and take a more active role in managing it. I serve on its advisory council.

One of the things he has emphasized over the years has really stuck with me. To change behavior, people need two things: motivation and knowledge.

Most people already have the motivation. Nobody wants to feel exhausted every afternoon. Nobody wants to struggle with a health problem that affects their quality of life. And I certainly don’t know many people who enjoy spending their hard-earned money on medical bills and prescriptions.

What they often lack is the knowledge. A health plan can pay for a visit, a lab test, or a prescription. It cannot teach someone why their energy crashes every afternoon, how their gut affects the rest of their body, or which questions to bring to their next appointment.

What Health Knowledge Looks Like

Health knowledge works alongside medical care and makes people better partners in it. In practice, it looks like a few everyday habits of mind.

• Asking why. A symptom is a signal. Sleep, stress, diet, gut health, or nutrient status may sit underneath it, and knowing that leads to better conversations and better choices.
• Seeing the role of daily habits. Food, movement, sleep, and stress affect many of the conditions that drive health spending. Small, informed changes can add up.
• Reviewing medications and supplements. Many people take several prescriptions from different practitioners, plus supplements no one else knows about. A full review with a pharmacist or healthcare practitioner can catch interactions and duplications.
• Arriving prepared. A short list of symptoms, questions, and current medications makes a 15-minute visit far more productive. Learn how to prepare for your next doctor’s visit here.
• Knowing where to find trustworthy information. The internet is full of health advice, and telling sound guidance from hype is a skill in itself.

None of this will cure rising premiums. But someone who understands their own health is more likely to use care wisely and catch problems earlier. Across a workforce, that adds up.

For Employers and Benefits Advisors

Health education is one of the few tools that costs little and fits alongside any plan design. It does not require a new carrier, network, or contract. It can be as simple as pointing employees to trustworthy, plain-language resources during open enrollment, in wellness communications, or alongside an HSA or high-deductible plan, where employees spend their own dollars first. For advisors, it is something genuinely useful to bring to a hard renewal conversation.

Where to Start

For anyone, employee or employer, a good first step is It’s My Health’s free guide, 8 Steps for Better Health. It is written in plain language, with no jargon.

The cost of coverage will keep making headlines. Over the long run, the benefit that may matter most is people who understand their own health and have the tools to take better care of it.

IMH was created to bring clarity and educate. We are not here to replace advice from your health care practitioner.

Authored by Heather Garbers

Heather Garbers is Senior Vice President of Voluntary Benefits at HUB International and co-founder of Voluntary Advantage, an industry hub for voluntary and supplemental benefits professionals. She serves on the It’s My Health advisory council.

Website