Employee Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment is October 19 – 30, 2026
You serve Harris County, and Harris County is here to serve you with great benefits. Make sure you’re taking full advantage of the many benefits available to you. During the October 19 – 30, 2026 open enrollment period, you can:
- Change your medical plan option
- Add or drop covered dependents*
- Enroll or unenroll in dependent care and/or health FSAs to make your 2027 contributions
- Purchase or discontinue optional life insurance or optional long-term disability insurance
In addition to our Base and Plus medical plans, you’ll have the option to select KelseyCare ACO. An ACO, or Accountable Care Organization, is a group of doctors, facilities and other healthcare professionals who work together to ensure your care is coordinated. Your vision and dental plans continue to remain the same and your basic life insurance and long-term disability (LTD) coverage is also unchanged.
*Court-ordered dependents require a termination of medical support notice to be dropped. Dependents added during open enrollment will be covered beginning December 26, 2026. Dependents dropped during open enrollment will be covered through December 25, 2026. Any plan and optional benefits changes during open enrollment become effective January 1, 2027.
Enrollment is all online through STARS Employee Self-Service at stars-hr.hctx.net, which you can only access from within the Harris County network.
Know Your Options
Medical, dental, vision, financial and wellness benefits are all available to you. For medical plans, you may choose between the Base, Plus or KelseyCare ACO plans.
- The Base Plan is designed to keep your monthly costs low through higher deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. You’ll pay more for services that you use, but you’ll pay the lowest premiums.
- With the Plus Plan, you’ll pay a higher monthly premium, but your deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums and costs for services will be lower.
- The KelseyCare ACO Plan offers the same out-of-pocket experience that our Plus Plan has — no deductible, lower co-pays at the Base Plan premiums.
You can find a side-by-side comparison of the medical plans and details on all benefits in the 2026 Employee Benefits Guide. Also check out the Premiums page below for more information.
KelseyCare ACO
Discover the Benefits of the KelseyCare ACO Plan
The KelseyCare ACO Plan gives you the best of both worlds — the annual savings of the PPO Plus Plan with $0 deductibles and the monthly savings of the Base PPO Plan with $0 premiums (available for the “Employee” only plan option).
Aetna
Find Answers Now
Use the links below to learn more. You can also call 1-800-228-6481 to speak with a member of the Aetna team.
Get Ready
The open enrollment period is October 19 – 30, 2026, so you need to be ready to act then. Enrollment is all online through STARS Employee Self-Service at stars-hr.hctx.net.
This is also where you’ll go to make your benefit selections, add/drop your dependents, upload documentation and more. Remember, STARS is only accessible from within the Harris County network.
REMINDER: Dependents without supporting documentation uploaded in STARS will not be added to your plan. Please upload documentation by October 30, 2026.
Get a Head Start
If you’re adding dependents, youdon’t have to wait for the open enrollment period to get started. You can gather your documentation now and have it ready for upload when you log in to STARS Employee Self-Service during the open enrollment period. If you need technical assistance accessing STARS Employee Self-Service, please contact the Universal Services Helpdesk at 713-274-4444.
Need Additional Help?
Download the STARS ESS Open Enrollment Job Aid or the Beneficiary Job Aid for a step-by-step guide on the entire 2027 Open Enrollment process.