I'm a CFP and personal finance reporter. How I plan for open enrollment amid soaring health care costs

As a certified financial planner and personal finance reporter, I spend a lot of time thinking about saving money on rising medical expenses.

Health insurance is a key employee benefit, and many workers don’t spend much time picking the right plan, surveys show.

Nearly one-third of health insurance enrollees spent less than 30 minutes choosing a plan in 2024, according to an Employee Benefit Research Institute survey of more than 2,000 participants in fall 2024.

Some 48% of millennials, my generation, admitted to “blindly” picking health plans because they didn’t understand them, a separate Justworks survey of nearly 4,200 U.S. adults from late 2024 found.

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