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Employee Benefits Open Enrollment to Be Held Online October 6–31, 2025

Posted On October 06, 2025
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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will hold its annual Employee Benefits Open Enrollment online from October 6–31, 2025. Employees will have 24/7 access to the new Open Enrollment benefits enrollment system via MCPS Hub+, where they can enroll in or make changes to their benefits. You must submit any benefit changes no later than October 31, 2025. Changes made to your benefits will be effective January 1, 2026.

New for 2026

  • Preferred Care Management will be added to Cigna medical plans. With care management, network physicians, outpatient providers, and others collaborate to find the right services to meet your and your family’s healthcare needs. Cigna nurses help manage your care by bringing resources and people together. Prior authorizations (obtaining approval before receiving care) will be required. Cigna-member employees will be defaulted to the Preferred Care Management plan.
  • Current Cigna medical plans—those without Preferred Care Management—will remain available with a 7 percent increase in employee cost share. Employees will have the option to enroll in the plan without Preferred Care Management during Open Enrollment.
  • Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy will be covered under the Cigna medical plans.
  • Glucagon-like Peptide 1 Agonists (GLP-1) and weight management programs will be offered to prevent coverage of off-label use of GLP-1 diabetes drugs for weight management while minimizing member disruption.
  • Cigna’s Open Access Plus plan annual deductibles will change from $300 (individual)/$600 (family) to $500 (individual)/$1,000 (family) for out-of-network providers.
  • Vision plan benefits frequency changes from every 18 months to every 12 months for exams, frames, lenses, and contact lenses.
  • Employee contributions toward premiums will increase by 1 percent.

During Open Enrollment, eligible employees can—

  1. Enroll in benefits
  2. Change health insurance carriers
  3. Make changes to coverage levels
  4. Add or drop dependents*
  5. Enroll in flexible spending account(s) (FSAs) for 2026
  6. Designate life insurance beneficiary(ies)**

You may enroll in the full employee benefits plan or choose only the individual components (medical, dental, vision, or prescription drug) that meet your needs. For example, you may select medical and prescription drug coverage but decline vision and dental coverage. All family members must have the same coverage.

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

Open Enrollment also is your time to enroll in an FSA for 2026. If you are participating in an FSA currently and wish to do so again in 2026, you must reenroll. FSA enrollments DO NOT roll over to the next calendar year. To renew your FSA, you will need to reenroll online during this fall’s Open Enrollment (for the 2026 calendar year) and each year thereafter.

Employees hired at the start of the 2025–2026 school year who enrolled in an FSA at that time also will need to reenroll during Open Enrollment for calendar year 2026. New hire FSA enrollments are for the remainder of the current calendar year (2025).

The annual limit on medical FSA accounts for 2026 will increase to $3,300; the limit for dependent care FSA accounts will remain at $5,000. Keep reading for more information about the benefits of enrolling in an FSA for medical and/or dependent care expenses and how to sign up for 2026. 

Benefit Rates for 2026

Your 2026 benefit rates will be based on the benefit plan(s) you elect and, as a result of the Wellness Initiatives program, on whether or not—

  • you completed a biometric health screening between October 7, 2024, and October 3, 2025; and
  • you completed your medical plan’s online health risk assessment between October 7, 2024, and October 3, 2025.

Base rates for the 2026 plan year, which do not include Wellness Initiatives credit(s), are available in the 2026 Employee Benefit Summary. Rate charts for 2026 that do factor in Wellness Initiatives credits or charges are available on the Open Enrollment web page. Find rates for the current plan year on the Employee Benefits web page.

Learn More

Studies show that an educated health-care consumer is best able to navigate the confusing world of health insurance and make better decisions. For details about your benefit options, refer to the 2026 Employee Benefit Summary. It is important to pay close attention to the Open Enrollment materials to ensure that you make the best choices for you and your family.

*Documentation may be required.

**Current designated life insurance beneficiary(ies) are displayed on Hub+. Any changes made to     
 beneficiary(ies) from Hub+ will replace all previously designated beneficiaries.