The State Department of Central Management Services (CMS) has announced that the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Benefit Choice enrollment period will begin May 1 and end June 2, 2025.
If you do not want to change health, dental, life or dependent coverage, your current elections will continue with the exception of Health Alliance. Health Alliance Plan participants MUST make a plan election to avoid defaulting to the Quality Care Health Plan. Note: You must enroll or re-enroll in Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts each year.
Benefit Choice FY 2026 Changes
- Employee Premiums for Health and Dental
- Employee and dependent costs will increase.
- Health plan premiums will be based on your annual salary as of March 1, 2025, and the health plan you select during this Benefit Choice Period. Part-time employees also pay a percentage of the State contribution, based upon the percentage of your appointment.
- Copayment costs for some health services will increase.
- Health Plans available in your home or work county may have changed.
- All current Health Alliance participants must make a health plan election during the benefit choice period to avoid defaulting to the Quality Care Health Plan.
- Use the Health Plan Map to verify that your chosen plan is available in your home or work county. Ensure that your providers are covered under the plans you choose.
- If your current plan is no longer available, you MUST make a plan choice during Benefit Choice to avoid defaulting to the Quality Care Health Plan.
- Medical Care Assistance Plan (MCAP)
- FY2026 contribution limit is $3,300.
- The rollover of any unused FY2025 funds into FY2026 is limited to $640 for participants that re-enroll.
- Health Savings Account (HSA) employee and employer contribution limits will increase. The limit depends on age and individual or family enrollment. See page 9 of the Benefit Choice Booklet for the limits.
- Enhanced dental and vision benefits. See pages 10 and 11 of the Benefit Choice Booklet for details.
Note: We encourage you to confirm that your preferred providers participate in your chosen health plan each year.
- See instructions to access MyBenefits.
- If you registered a while ago, you may need to reset your password. To reset or to recover your password, choose Forgot My Password on the MyBenefits Login page.
- Documentation required for adding dependents must be uploaded by June 12, 2025.
Benefit Choice is your one chance per year (unless you experience a qualifying event) to:
- Change State health and life insurance coverage
- Opt into or out of the State health plan
- Opt into or opt out of the State dental plan
- Part-time employees may waive or elect coverage
- Add or drop dependents. (documentation is required when adding dependents)
- Enroll or re-enroll in the Health Savings Account (HSA) employee contribution as a companion to Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP). You may not enroll in both an HSA and MCAP.
- Enroll or re-enroll in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
- Re-enrollment is not automatic! You must re-enroll in Dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP) and/or Medical Care Assistance Plan (MCAP) to continue your pre-tax savings.
- Your enrollment in DCAP and/or MCAP is for the period of July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
Resources and Assistance
Reference materials including the Benefit Choice booklet are available on the Benefit Choice web page at https://go.uillinois.edu/BenefitChoice
CMS is offering Benefit Choice Fairs throughout the month of May. See the last page of the Benefit Choice Booklet for the dates and times. We encourage you to carefully consider the available options to choose the plan that best fits both your health and financial needs.
For State of Illinois (CMS) benefits and help with logging in, enrolling, or making changes, contact the MyBenefits Service Center. You can also make State benefit changes by phone if you do not have computer or Internet access. Bilingual customer representatives are available:
- Phone: 844-251-1777 or TDD/TTY 844-251-1778
- Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. CT Monday through Friday
For other benefits or questions about benefit eligibility, please review the information on the System HR Services website or contact University Payroll & Benefits.
The security of your personal information is important. When we ask you to login or make updates, you can always check the System HR Services website to view this message and confirm it is legitimate.
