This week, UAB begins rolling out information about open enrollment to provide benefit-eligible employees time to review upcoming changes and make informed decisions for themselves and their families.
1. Open enrollment runs from Oct. 17-Nov. 3
UAB’s annual open enrollment for benefits will begin 7 a.m. Friday, Oct. 17, and conclude 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3. Eligible employees can choose among health, dental and vision insurance plans, plus voluntary life, accident, critical-illness, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, along with tax-deferred spending accounts for health and dependent care for 2026. You can review all the information you need in the open enrollment toolkit anytime on the UAB for Me portal.
2. Action is required
This is an active open enrollment, which means any benefit-eligible employee who does not select a 2026 health care plan option during the enrollment period will not have UAB-provided health care coverage (medical, dental, vision) beginning January 2026. Detailed offerings of these plans will be provided in coming weeks to better enable you to make the best choice for your household.
During the enrollment process, employees will be required to add or update their emergency contact information. An employee’s emergency contact information will be kept confidential and will be used only in the event of an emergency. By providing emergency contact information, you authorize UAB HR/UAB management to contact your emergency contacts should you have an emergency while working at UAB.
3. Medical and dental premium rates will not increase
Despite rising health care costs nationwide, UAB is happy to announce health insurance and dental premiums will not increase for 2026. There will be a slight increase in premium rates for vision plans.
4. Changes are coming in plan options and coverage of weight-loss drugs
Nationwide, organizations are facing the largest health insurance cost increases in at least 15 years, according to news reports. For UAB to continue offering affordable health plans in the face of these cost increases, we are making a change to the number of plans being offered.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, UAB will offer two Viva Health plans — Viva Choice and Viva UAB. The Viva Access plan will no longer be available. UAB will continue to offer a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama PPO plan, which allows participants to see providers within the BCBS state and national network. Employees currently enrolled in the Viva Access plan will need to enroll in a new health plan to continue to have health insurance coverage through UAB.
With Viva Choice, you can use a physician in the UAB Network, UAB St. Vincent’s, UAB Medical West and the Viva Network (outside of UAB) within the state of Alabama.
With Viva UAB, you can use only a physician who is in the UAB Network, UAB St. Vincent’s and UAB Medical West.
With BCBS, you can see providers within the Blue Cross Blue Shield Alabama network and national network, which includes providers at UAB, UAB St. Vincent’s and UAB Medical West. This is the only plan with providers outside Alabama.
Full details on the Viva Choice, Viva UAB and BCBS plans will be shared in upcoming stories in the Reporter and are available in the UAB for Me portal.
Also effective Jan. 1, 2026, weight-loss medications — including GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy, Saxenda and similar treatments — will no longer be covered under UAB’s Express Scripts prescription drug coverage. The coverage that has been offered through Express Scripts is somewhat of an outlier as employers typically do not provide coverage for prescription drugs for weight-loss purposes. GLP-1 drugs prescribed for treatment of diabetes will still be covered under UAB’s Express Scripts prescription drug coverage.
Even with these changes, the employer-to-employee contribution ratio has increased. In 2026, UAB will contribute 76 percent of costs, while employees contribute 24 percent of costs. The previous ratio was approximately 75/25.
“UAB strives to provide affordable benefit plan options which meet the needs of employees and their families,” said Chief Human Resources Officer Janet May. “These decisions were not made lightly, and we wanted to give all affected employees several months’ advance notice to assist with the transition.” All affected employees currently using the Viva Access plan and currently covered weight-loss medication prescriptions have been contacted about these changes and been presented with alternative options, May says.
5. Detailed information will be available in coming weeks
Look for more articles in the Reporter specific to various benefit plan offerings over the next few weeks. Also note that detailed open enrollment information is available now in the UAB for Me portal.
Note that the UAB for Me benefits portal has a new look. Recent enhancements to the UAB for Me benefits portal mean that some commonly used features may have moved. Information about 2025 and 2026 benefit options is now accessible from a single location. Click on "Benefit Resources" on the menu displayed in the top righthand corner of the portal home page. Hover over the “Benefit Resources” tab and select a page from the displayed menu for more information about the topic. This information is also accessible in the Benefitplace mobile app.
Live virtual educational sessions explaining 2026 open enrollment information and benefits changes will be held from 1-2 p.m. Oct. 1, 11 a.m.-noon Oct. 9 and 1-2 p.m. Oct. 16. Register to attend here.
Meanwhile, contact your school/department HR consultant or the UAB Benefits office at