{"id":5861,"date":"2016-12-09T05:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/?page_id=5861"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:15:36","slug":"select-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/health\/select-a-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Choose Your Health Insurance Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"toc\" class=\"uwsa-toc callout hidden-print\"><\/div><style>@media (min-width: 768px) {#toc { max-width: 40%} <\/style><script>jQuery(document).ready(function() {\n \t\t\t\t\tgenerateTOC(\"How to Choose Your Health Insurance Plan\", \"\", \"div.entry-content\" ,1 ,\"true\", \"toc\");\n \t\t\t\t\t });<\/script>\n<p>Steps are listed below to help you choose a <strong>health insurance plan design<\/strong> that fits your needs and a <strong>health insurance plan carrier<\/strong> that will provide services in the county you would like to receive services in.<\/p>\n<h2>Step 1: Choose a Health Insurance Plan Design<\/h2>\n<p>Below are resources to help you choose a plan design and brief descriptions of each plan design offered in the State Group Health Insurance Program. The plan designs differ in monthly premiums, cost-sharing, and whether there is out-of-network coverage.<\/p>\n<h4>Resources:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Review each plan design listed in the left hand menu,<\/li>\n<li>Use the <span class=\"doc-icon\"><a class=\"doc-type pdf\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/download\/Comparison-Health-and-Pharmacy2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Comparison of Health &amp; Pharmacy Benefits<span class=\"sr-only\"> pdf<\/span><\/a><\/span>\r\n<\/li>\n<li>Watch <a href=\"https:\/\/etf.wi.gov\/video\/choosing-plan-design\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ETF&#8217;s Choosing a Plan Design video<\/a>\u00a0(7 minutes)<\/li>\n<li>Review the <a href=\"https:\/\/healthplanchoice.sites.wisc.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Health Plan Choice Resources<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Brief Descriptions:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Health Plan Design<br \/>\n<\/strong>The Health Plan has a<em> lower <\/em>deductible and out-of-pocket limits but a <em>higher monthly premium<\/em>. This plan design only covers out-of-network benefits for emergency and urgent care services.<\/li>\n<li><strong>High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) Design<br \/>\n<\/strong>The HDHP has a<em> higher <\/em>deductible and out-of-pocket limits but the <em>lowest monthly premium<\/em>. This plan design only covers out-of-network benefits for emergency and urgent care services. The HDHP is paired with a <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/spending-savings-accts\/hsa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Health Savings Account (HSA)<\/a> to help you save for out-of-pocket health, dental, and vision expenses. The Universities of Wisconsin contributes to your HSA, if eligible. You may also contribute to your HSA on a pre-tax basis from your paycheck. Changes to your contributions are allowed at any time.<br \/>\n<em>Not all employees are eligible for the HDHP\/HSA. Review the Health Savings Account web page linked above to learn more.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Access Health Plan Design<br \/>\n<\/strong>The Access Health Plan provides freedom of choice for doctors and hospitals across the country; however, there are lower costs when you use in-network providers (available nationwide). In exchange for the increased flexibility in doctors, hospitals, and providers, <em>the monthly premium is more<\/em> than it is for the Health Plan and the HDHP.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Access High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) Design<br \/>\n<\/strong>The Access HDHP provides freedom of choice for doctors and hospitals across the country; however, there are lower costs when you use in-network providers (available nationwide). This plan design has a higher deductible and higher out-of-pocket limits than the Access Health Plan. In exchange for the increased cost sharing, this plan design offers a <em>lower monthly premium <\/em>than the Access Health Plan.<br \/>\nThe Access HDHP is paired with a <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/spending-savings-accts\/hsa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Health Savings Account (HSA)<\/a> to help you save for out-of-pocket health, dental, and vision expenses. The Universities of Wisconsin contributes to your HSA, if eligible. You may also contribute to your HSA on a pre-tax basis from your paycheck. Changes to your contributions are allowed at any time.<br \/>\n<em>Not all employees are eligible for the HDHP\/HSA. Review the Health Savings Account web page linked above to learn more.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Step 2: Choose a Health Insurance Plan Carrier<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>To help you choose a health insurance plan carrier that includes the providers and hospitals in the county that you would like to receive services in, use the <a href=\"https:\/\/etf.wi.gov\/its-your-choice\/2026\/health-plan-search\/state\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Health Plan Search<\/a>. This is an important step since the Health Plan and HDHP only include out-of-network coverage for emergency and urgent care services.<\/p>\n<p>When using the Health Plan Search Tool, click on the link to each of the insurance carrier websites to review a summary of the carrier that includes information about access to specific physicians, referral and prior authorization requirements and other plan features (for example: member portal, 24-hour nurse line, telehealth app).<\/p>\n<p>Also, as part of your health insurance plan carrier decision, review the health insurance plan carriers&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/etf.wi.gov\/its-your-choice\/2025\/health-plan-quality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Quality Ratings<\/a>. Note: If you select the Access Health Plan or Access HDHP, reviewing the quality ratings is not necessary since the Access Plans are administered by Dean Health Plan.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step 3: Enroll<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Enroll by logging into Workday (<a href=\"http:\/\/myworkday.wisconsin.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">myworkday.wisconsin.edu<\/a>). Once in Workday, go to Personal, then select Benefits and Pay. In the Suggested Links, select <em>My Benefits<\/em> to access the benefits enrollment system, <em>My Insurance Benefits<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Important: Enrollments must be completed within 30 days of your benefits eligibility date.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steps are listed below to help you choose a health insurance plan design that fits your needs and a health insurance plan carrier that will provide services in the county you would like to receive services in. Step 1: Choose a Health Insurance Plan Design Below are resources to help you choose a plan design [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3081,"featured_media":0,"parent":371,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/42.7563.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5861","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5861"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36874,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5861\/revisions\/36874"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/ohrwd\/benefits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}