Welcome to your 2026 benefits!
Enroll for 2026 Benefits: Nov. 3 – Nov. 14, 2025

2026 Open Enrollment Guides

WashU offers a comprehensive benefits program designed to support your overall well-being, helping you and your family thrive. Open Enrollment is your opportunity to review and make changes to your WashU health and insurance benefit elections to ensure that you are enrolled in the plans that will be best for you and your family in 2026. There are some plan changes for 2026, so we encourage you to take time before making your elections to review your enrollment guide to learn about the changes and how they may impact you.

Faculty & Staff (PDF)

Postdoctoral Appointees and Clinical Fellows (PDF)

WashU Community Specialists Staff Physicians (PDF)

Need Help?
Visit Alex, Our Virtual Benefits Counselor

GLP-1 Medication Change

Beginning January 1, 2026, WashU will no longer cover Wegovy or Zepbound through the Express Scripts prescription drug program (at a retail pharmacy, such as CVS or Walgreens, or via home delivery). Instead, you will need to go directly to the manufacturer’s website, to fill and purchase your prescriptions. GLP-1 medications that are FDA-indicated for diabetes (e.g., Mounjaro and Ozempic) continue to be covered under the WashU prescription drug program through Express Scripts.

We encourage you to review the Wegovy and Zepbound GLP-1s brochure (PDF) which has been updated with more detailed information and the frequently asked questions (PDF) to learn how this change may impact you or a covered dependent.

Next steps:

  1. Between now and Dec. 31, if you are currently taking Wegovy or Zepbound, now’s the time to talk with your provider about having your prescription sent to the manufacturer’s pharmacy prior to Jan. 1. This will help ensure you’ll be able to fill your prescription starting on Jan. 1.
    As a reminder, any prescription for Wegovy or Zepbound filled prior to Jan. 1 will be covered under the current 2025 prescription drug program through Express Scripts.
  2. Starting Jan. 1, you may activate your account at RxSaveCard (note, this step is not available until Jan. 1). The WashU contribution will become available to you via an electronic debit card starting Jan. 1 after you activate your account. See the brochure for more information.

Other 2026 Guides & Forms

Retirees

Long-Term Disability (LTD)

COBRA

Power Plant

ACA Participants

Graduate Students

United Healthcare Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC)

Additional helpful documents
– Basic vision versus vision buy-up comparison chart (PDF)

Log in to Workday
to Enroll or Make Changes

  1. Enter your WashU Key and password
  2. Select the open enrollment task from your Workday My Tasks
  3. Then click the “Let’s Get Started” button and follow instructions

You may also enroll through the Workday mobile app.

Need help enrolling in Workday?
View Step-by-step instructions for your open enrollment event.

Beneficiary Designations
Life insurance beneficiary information must be entered before you will be able to finalize your open enrollment elections. If you previously entered your beneficiary information, you will not need to re-enter the information when you enroll; however, now is a good time to confirm that your beneficiary information is up-to-date. As a reminder, life insurance beneficiary information was not converted into Workday upon its implementation. 

For instructions on how to add or update your life insurance beneficiaries, reference the Add, Change or Remove Beneficiaries  tutorial. There is no change to the beneficiary process for the Retirement Savings Plan. To designate or update a beneficiary for the Retirement Savings Plan, contact TIAA online.

Checklist

  • Review your Enrollment Guide.
  • Review the step-by-step Workday enrollment guide.
  • Enroll/re-enroll in the health care and/or dependent child daycare Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
  • Enroll/re-enroll in the Health Savings Account (HSA).
  • Enroll in or change health and insurance coverages.
  • Review the dependents you are covering under your benefits and verify they meet the eligibility requirements. When you submit your elections, you are certifying that you have reviewed and verified the eligibility of your enrolled dependents. If you add a dependent to coverage during open enrollment, you will be contacted by Alight, WashU’s dependent verification provider, in January. Submit documentation to Alight to verify your dependent meets the plan’s eligibility requirements. Learn more about Alight in our Q&A document (PDF).
  • If a dependent’s social security number (SSN) is missing, enter their SSN if you have it. Do not enter your SSN in the box. If you do not have the dependent’s SSN, select Reason SSN is Not Available and then indicate “missing” in the box.
  • Add or review Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation.
  • Print a copy of your enrollment elections from Workday. If you have increased Life Insurance or Disability coverage, check your Workday My Tasks after open enrollment for a task to submit a Statement of Health.

Looking for a provider? Find the care you need with WashU Direct providers.

Have Questions?

If you have questions or need help enrolling, contact the HR Benefits Team.

Phone: 314-935-2332, option #1
Email: hr-benefitsmail@wustl.edu