It’s normal for the state of Florida to alert its employees and retirees that it’s open enrollment time for health insurance, and to check their benefits and make any changes.
What’s not so normal is telling them after open enrollment closes. And some retirees say that’s exactly what happened.
A number of state retirees alerted the Tallahassee Democrat they had no notice of this year’s open enrollment until “What’s New for 2025” mailers started showing up in area mailboxes. The problem: They came on Saturday, Nov. 9, telling people they had until Nov. 1 to act.
More than 171,000 current workers are in the plan, along with an uncertain number of retirees who receive Medicare Advantage Prescription benefits through Capital Health Plan, United Healthcare and Humana health maintenance organizations.
Missing open enrollment could have costly ramifications for retirees who failed to meet the deadline to change plans. That’s because of an increase in the HMO premiums: The cost for CHP’s Medicare Advantage plan will more than double to $180 a month, Humana will impose a new $75 premium, and United Health Care coverage will increase to $345 a month.