People Experience

2026 Open Enrollment runs from Oct. 16 – Oct. 31, 2025

Open enrollment is your annual opportunity to review all of your benefits and make changes for the coming year. Don’t miss your chance to enroll at My VU Benefits!

Vanderbilt is committed to offering you competitive benefits to meet the needs of you and your family while balancing the increasing cost of coverage. With this in mind, we are offering a variety of new benefits and enhancements to help support your health and your wallet in 2026.

If you have questions or need help enrolling, the People Experience team is here for you. Join us for our benefits enrollment labs on October 23^rd and October 29^th in the Baker 1000 training room from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT. You can also email the benefits team directly at benefits@vanderbilt.edu? Want to talk to someone instead? Call 615-343-4788 and leave us a voicemail for a return phone call.

New for 2026

Supplemental benefits

For 2026, Vanderbilt is offering three new benefits to supplement your health plan. You can enroll yourself, your spouse, and your dependent children up to the age of 26 in Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, and Accident insurance.

Critical Illness insurance is a supplemental benefit that provides a lump sum cash payment if you or a covered family member is diagnosed with a serious illness such as cancer, heart attack, or stroke. The benefit is available at two levels, either $15,000 or $30,000, and no evidence of insurability is required to enroll.

Hospital Indemnity insurance covers you and any enrolled dependent if you are admitted to the hospital or intensive care unit. The benefit pays a minimum cash lump sum of $1,000 if you are admitted to the hospital and pays a daily rate of at least $200 for each day you stay in the hospital.

Accident insurance pays you a cash benefit if you or an enrolled dependent experiences a covered injury such as a break, fracture, concussion, or dislocation, due to an accident.

Each plan pays a cash benefit directly to you so you can use the money however you need it. You may choose to use the funds to pay for what your health insurance does not pay for, or for everyday expenses like rent, groceries, or childcare. Each plan also pays an annual health screening benefit of $50, which means you can make money just by going to a doctor for your regular preventive screenings, such as a physical, mammogram, dental exam, and more.

Healthcare Bluebook Rewards

In 2026, Vanderbilt is also introducing a new program that rewards you just for seeking quality care. If you are enrolled in the Aetna Choice or Select options, you are automatically eligible for the Healthcare Bluebook rewards program. In this program, you can earn anywhere between $50 to $1,500 if you use the Healthcare Bluebook site to identify high-quality, fair price providers, and visit one of those providers in the following 12 months to have a covered service completed. The process is simple! All you need to do is find a provider and have the procedure done. There is no application or documentation needed! Find out more here.

New partnership with Hinge Health

Anyone enrolled in the Aetna Choice or Select medical options will be eligible to take advantage of our new partnership with Hinge Health, a leading provider of virtual physical therapy. Life can take a toll on our bodies as we age, but with Hinge Health, you can get virtual care to help reduce everyday joint and muscle aches, recover from injury, relieve pelvic pain, and much more. Best of all – it’s free!

Beginning in January, you’ll be able to sign up for Hinge Health, be matched with a physical therapist and a health coach who will design a care plan tailored to you. Find out more and join the wait list at hinge.health/Vanderbilt-join.  

New partnership with New York Life

In 2026, we’re moving from MetLife to New York Life for life insurance, disability, and accidental death & dismemberment coverage. All of your current coverages will automatically carry over to 2026, but this is a great opportunity to review your needs and make changes.

During this year’s open enrollment, you’ll have a one-time opportunity to enroll in Short-Term and Long-Term Disability buy-up coverage without Evidence of Insurability . This is usually only offered when you are first eligible to enroll, so if you missed your chance in the past, now is the time to enroll in coverage to protect you and your family should you become unable to work.

Why enroll in short- and long-term disability? Think of this coverage as paycheck insurance. If you are unable to work for a short period of time due to an illness, injury, or even having a baby, you probably still need regular income. For those who are eligible and enrolled, short-term disability buy-up coverage pays 66.67% of annual salary so you can focus on healing instead of worrying about how to pay your bills. Long-term disability buy-up coverage pays 60% of annual salary if you need to be out for a longer period of time. These coverages provide you will peace of mind for those “what if” situations. For plan rules, limitations, and more information, visit hr.vanderbilt.edu/benefits/short-term-disability/ and hr.vanderbilt.edu/benefits/long-term.php.

How to enroll

Use My VU Benefits to make your benefit elections and update your beneficiaries. Use this step-by-step guide if you need help navigating the site. If you have questions or concerns, please contact People Experience.

Once you have completed your enrollment, you may review your future elections for 2026 by going to the main menu and selecting Your Benefits and then clicking on Benefit History. Once on the history page, select the Open Enrollment event and your 2026 elections will be displayed. To print or email your confirmation, click on the printer icon on the top right of the screen. Contact  People Experience for help enrolling

Resources for Newly Benefits-Eligible Employees

If you’re new to Vanderbilt, you’ll need to complete two enrollments. First, you’ll need to enroll for your 2025 benefits in My VU Benefits, and once you’re finished, you’ll be able to enroll in your 2026 benefits. You MUST complete both enrollments to ensure you have the benefits you want.  If you do not complete your 2026 Open Enrollment event, you will not receive the $20 monthly tobacco credit, you will be charged the $100 spousal surcharge if you cover a spouse, and you will be automatically enrolled in the Choice CDHP medical option.  

Life Events after Open Enrollment

If you make changes to your 2025 benefit selections due to a qualifying event after completing Open Enrollment, you MUST check your 2026 benefits to ensure you have all of the coverages you want. Not every change you make to your 2025 benefits will automatically carry over to your 2026 coverage. Once you complete your life event, you will be prompted to review your 2026 Open Enrollment event again