Renew your company's health benefits

Small-group health insurance plans renew annually. Here's what benefits admins can expect at renewal and how to choose your company's renewal package in Gusto.

Employees: head to this article for steps to enroll in or waive coverage during open enrollment. To figure out when your open enrollment is, open the accordion below to find your benefits renewal date.

Find your company's renewal date

Want to know when your company will go through open enrollment? If Gusto’s your broker, follow the steps below to find your benefits renewal date(s).

Employers/admins

Sign in to your admin account.
Go to the Benefits section.
Scroll to “Active benefits.” The plans listed under “Managed by Gusto” are the plans that we’ll manage your renewal and open enrollment for.
- If you have multiple lines of coverage and your company set them up at different times, they may have different renewal dates. We’ll ask you at your next renewal if you want to align the renewal dates.
On the Medical tile, click View.
Look at the “Effective dates” toward the right of your screen.
- The first date is the day that this coverage period began.
- The second date is the last day of coverage for this period. The day after that is your renewal date, which is when renewal/open enrollment changes will be effective. Open enrollment starts sometime prior to this date so we can process your changes with the carriers.

Check out the renewal timeline to learn more about what to expect in the lead-up to open enrollment. Gusto emails benefit admins when it’s time to sign in and choose which plans to offer your team at open enrollment.

Employees

If you’re not enrolled in coverage, or if another broker manages your company’s benefits, ask your employer for your company’s next renewal date.

If you’re enrolled in your company’s benefits through Gusto:

Sign in to Gusto.
Go to the Benefits section.
On the “Medical” tile, click View.
Look at the “Coverage Period.”
- The first date is the day that this coverage began.
- The second date is the last day of coverage for this plan. The day after that is your renewal date, which is when changes you make at open enrollment will be effective.
- Open enrollment starts sometime in the weeks prior your renewal date.

Gusto emails all eligible employees when it’s time to sign in and make your selections in Gusto.

Renewal timeline: what to expect and when

Step 1: Fill out the renewal survey

15 weeks before your renewal date

Benefits admins receive an email notification to fill out a survey in Gusto.
Your responses help your benefits advisor understand what’s working and what you want to change about your company’s current benefits.

Step 2: The insurance carriers send Gusto your renewal info

6-8 weeks prior to your renewal date

Before we can show you your renewal options in Gusto, we’re following up with your insurance carriers to receive their renewal plan and rate updates.
The carriers’ release timelines vary, but rest assured that we’re following up with them and we’ll notify you as soon as you can start choosing plans in Gusto.
Once your carriers send us your renewal info, a licensed benefits advisor reviews your survey responses, employee demographics, and carrier requirements, then recommends a number of package options for you.

Step 3: Choose your company’s renewal package in Gusto

4-8 weeks before your renewal date

Benefit admins receive an email once it’s time to review your company’s renewal options in Gusto. You’ll have about a week to choose so your team can start open enrollment shortly after.
This is your annual chance to change the plans, carriers, company contribution, new hire waiting period, or employee eligibility criteria.
You can make changes right in Gusto (check out the steps in the "Choose your company's renewal plans” accordion of this article) or reach out to our licensed advisors with questions.

Step 4: Your team goes through open enrollment

~1 week after you choose your company’s renewal package

After you sign for your company’s renewal package in Gusto, we take about a week to prepare your paperwork and set up open enrollment.
Open enrollment typically lasts a week. This can vary due to carrier deadlines and the size of your company.
We email all benefits-eligible employees (including new hires, if/once they're eligible) when it’s time to choose their coverage in Gusto. This is their annual chance to enroll, switch plans, add or remove dependents, or waive coverage altogether.
Even employees who aren’t enrolling must sign a waiver in Gusto. The carriers collect waiver reasons to determine your company’s eligibility for group coverage.

Step 5: The insurance carriers process your coverage

After open enrollment

Our team submits all open enrollment paperwork to the carriers on your behalf.
The carriers can take 2-4 weeks to process the coverage. We follow up with them every 3-5 business days and will keep you updated.
Keep an eye out for emails from us, as the carriers may request additional information (like a voided check or workers’ compensation plan details).
Carriers may confirm coverage after the renewal effective date—this is common in small-group insurance. Refer to this article for what employees should do if they need to go to the doctor before ID cards arrive.

Step 6: Payroll deductions start and ID cards arrive

2-4 weeks after open enrollment

Once the carriers approve your coverage, we double-check each enrollment and notify you that your renewal’s complete.
Employee payroll deductions are updated to reflect their enrollment choices.
Deductions remain in the company bank account for you to pay directly to the insurance carriers each month.
ID cards for new coverage are mailed within 2 weeks of carrier approval. Employees who renewed coverage with the same carrier can keep using their existing ID cards.

Choose your company's renewal plans

Before you start, here are some FAQs to consider:

Why can't I choose my old plan? Most medical insurance carriers make changes to their plan deductibles and copays each year. If you're ok with the changes, you can renew with this default plan. If you aren't, you can explore other options.
How do I know which plans are the best? Medical plans have categories that indicate the quality of their coverage. They start at the bottom with bronze, silver, gold, and platinum being the “richest” plan type. The higher the quality, the more expensive the plan.
How many plans can I offer? Carriers have different rules about the amount of plans you can offer—we recommend limiting it to 4 plans to make enrollment easier on your team.
What types of plans can I offer? You can offer medical, dental, vision, basic life and disability, HSAs, FSAs, DCFSAs, and commuter benefits.

For each line of coverage, you can review what's changing at renewal and make plan changes if desired. You can also change your company contribution and new hire waiting period. We partner with multiple nationwide carriers and our licensed benefits advisors are available to help you select the best options for your team.

Step 1: Review what’s changing

Premium prices usually increase each year, but sometimes carriers will change plan details too.

Cost summary

We’ll show you how much the cost of your current plan is changing and we’ll use your current enrollment info (which employees are enrolled) to give you an estimated cost. That will change if your team makes other health insurance choices and/or dependent changes.

Plan summary

In this section you’ll see a list of the current plans you offer within that line of coverage (health, vision, dental, etc). Use the link below each plan to read the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC)—that’s the fine print that tells you what, if anything, is changing. To compare, use the info icon to take a look at the SBC for the retiring plan, and the new plan.

If you’re ok with the changes and you want to offer the same plan options, click Keep default plans. If you want to look at other options, click Explore alternate packages—you can return to your default plan after you’ve explored other options if you want to keep it.

Step 2: Explore different plan options

On this screen you’ll find:

Other plans to choose from
The plan(s) you have right now
The plan(s) you have right now + carrier changes (what will happen if you don’t choose a new plan)

Our team of licensed advisors will provide some notes above each plan to help you decide. You can also click on the link below each plan to review the SBC. Just like on the previous screen, we’ll give you a cost summary based on how your team is currently enrolled—but that’s an estimate and costs will vary depending on how your team chooses to enroll.

If you need a refresher to compare against your current plans, scroll to the bottom of the page to take a look at those details. The “expiring package” is there for reference, but you can’t choose it because it isn’t offered next year. The “default renewal package” is the current plan you have with the carrier’s upcoming changes—use that to compare the differences.

Once you’ve chosen your plan, click Save selection.

Step 3: Update benefits package details

The last step is to make updates to your waiting period and contribution scheme—or you can leave them as-is. We’ll give you more cost estimates (including how much your team might pay) based on contribution changes.

When you’re finished making changes, click Save. If you want to go back, click Back to package selection.

Step 5: Finish your selections and sign forms

Complete these steps for each line of coverage, or click Add plan if you want to add a new line of coverage you didn’t offer last year. Once your package is complete, click Sign forms. Once you’ve signed, click Continue.

We’ll provide one last summary page to review. Take a final glance to make sure you’re happy with next year’s benefits package and click Confirm and submit.