Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Welcome to the 2026 Open Enrollment webpage. Benefits Open Enrollment will take place between October 27 – November 17.

As a benefits eligible faculty or staff member, you have access to a range of quality benefit options so you can get the coverage you need for yourself and your eligible family members. Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to reassess your healthcare, life insurance, and other benefit needs - by considering how you utilized your benefits in 2025 and how your needs may change for 2026.

Benefits eligible faculty and staff are able to enroll in or make changes to their benefit elections for the upcoming calendar year during Open Enrollment. Log into the benefit portal (company identifier is HWSCollege for new registration) to review your benefit elections from last year and to update benefit elections, dependent information and beneficiaries for calendar year 2026. Open enrollment begins on October 27 at 12 a.m. and closes on November 17 at 11:59 p.m. Once Open Enrollment closes you will not be able to make a benefit change until the next Open Enrollment, unless you have a qualifying life event.

If you do not login to the benefit portal or elect any changes, your current benefit elections will remain in effect except for flexible spending accounts. If you want to enroll in FSA for 2026, you must login and elect your FSA enrollment.

2026 Open Enrollment Guide
2026 Open Enrollment Video will be uploaded after our first virtual session.

2026 BENEFIT HIGHLIGHTS

Human Resources is hosting several In-Person and Virtual sessions for employees to learn about benefit offerings and to ask questions. Benefit presentations will be held on the below dates and Microsoft Teams links will be emailed to the campus. Virtual Benefit Presentation will be recorded and available on our website.

• Friday, October 31, 9 a.m. (Virtual)
• Wednesday, November 5, 11:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. (In person, Bartlett Theater – Coxe Hall)
• Tuesday, November 11, 9:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. (Virtual)

HWS’ new pharmacy benefit manager, TrueScripts, will be presenting and available for questions at all open enrollment sessions.

2026 Summary of Benefit/plan Changes

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are continuing to provide employees with a strong benefit package. As a benefit eligible faculty or staff member, you have access to a range of benefit options and can elect the coverage needed for you and your eligible family members. 

Below are a few highlights:

HEALTH PLAN DESIGN – No plan design changes for 2026. Co-pays and deductibles through Excellus BCBC will remain the same as 2025.

PHARMACY – Hobart and William Smith will transition from RXBenefits/Optum to TrueScripts Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM).

TrueScripts Benefits Guide

• TrueScripts is an open formulary plan which means there should be little to no disruption in terms of coverage for any prescription medications you are on today.
  
  TruScripts Formulary

• Those who currently have a prescription with OptumRx will be transitioned to TrueScripts and a new new prescription will not be required from your physician in most cases. However, some may experience a tier change which means some prescriptions may jump to a higher co-pay and some may jump to a lower co-pay Rx.
• GLP-1 medications, specifically for weight loss, will now be at the same specialty co-pay of $200. If you are on a GLP-1 for other medical conditions (such as diabetes or heart disease), the co-pay will remain at the lower tier amount.
• With the move to TrueScripts, many will have the opportunity to save money on their existing prescription.  TrueScripts will proactively reach out to members with significant savings opportunity, but all are also welcome to go to www.truescripts.com or contact TrueScripts member services at 844-257-1955 with questions about their prescription coverage or to see if there is a way to reduce your medication cost.
  
  TrueScripts Q&A

PREMIUM RATE CHANGES:

• Health Premium Rate Increase – due to current high claims experience for 2025, there will be an 11% increase
• Dental Premium Rate Increase - No increase
• Vision Premium Rate Decrease – No increase

For medical, dental and vision 2026 rates please click below.

2026 Faculty/Administrative Rates
2026 Administrative Hourly Rates

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) - Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts will default to No Contribution, so you must elect an appropriate contribution each year if you wish to utilize either of these.

• Hobart and William Smith Colleges utilizes Lifetime Benefit Solutions (LBS) to administer our Flexible Spending Account.
• For 2026, the FSA maximum contribution limit is $3,400. Dependent care FSA annual limit is $7,500.

Medicare & Individual Health Insurance Guidance

More details on open enrollment changes and offerings can be found at the links below.

2026 Excellus BCBS Medical Summary
2026 Excellus Dental High Summary
2026 Excellus Dental Low Summary
2026 EyeMed Vision Summary

MORE Information

Qualifying Life Event Change
Paid Family Leave (PFL)

VENDOR INFORMATION

Health Insurance
Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield
www.excellusbcbs.com/hws
Customer Service 800-499-1275

Pharmacy

TrueScripts
TrueScripts Prescription Benefit Management
RX Customer Service:  1-844-257-1955
Email: TrueScripts | Contact Us

Dental Insurance
Dental Blue Plan
https://www.excellusbcbs.com/
Customer Service 800-499-1275

Vision Insurance
Insight Network
Eyemed.com

Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
Lifetime Benefit Solutions
www.lifetimebenefitsolutions.com/members/login
Customer Service: 1-800-327-7130

Insurance Enrollment
Consiliarium Group
http://www.employeenavigator.com/benefits/account/login
Customer Service 1-844-890-7955
Email: info@consiliariumgroup.com

Retirement
TIAA
www.tiaa.org
Customer Service 800-842-2252

Transamerica
www.trsretire.com/
Customer Service

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Bree Health
Homepage - Bree Health
888-868-9790
Company ID: 8956