2026 Employee Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment is October 20 - 31, 2025
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 20 - 31, 2025 open enrollment period, you can:
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Change your medical plan option
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Add or drop covered dependents*
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Enroll or unenroll in dependent care and/or health FSAs to make your 2026 contributions
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Purchase or discontinue optional life insurance or optional long-term disability
*Court-ordered dependents require a termination of medical support notice to be dropped. Dependents added during open enrollment will be covered beginning December 28, 2025. Dependents dropped during open enrollment will be covered through December 27, 2025. Any plan and optional benefits changes during open enrollment become effective January 1, 2026.
Continuing in 2026, 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.
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.
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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.
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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.
Find Answers Now
Use this link to Aetna to learn more. You can also call 1-800-288-6481 to speak with a member of the Aetna team.
We’re Here to Help
In addition to your Employee Benefits Guide, you can get more information on plans and programs, and get your questions answered, by joining us remotely for a Virtual Enrollment Meeting.
You can also contact the Benefits & Wellness team:
713-274-5500
benefits@harriscountytx.gov
benefitsathctx.com
All Virtual Enrollment Meetings are recorded. Click on any date to watch or re-watch the webinar.
Virtual Employee OE Meetings
October 20
12:00 PM
Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 830 0824 1732
October 21
3:00 PM
Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 879 0066 7859
October 22
9:00 AM
Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 849 4300 9183
October 23
12:00 PM
Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 886 5554 2484
In-Person Retiree Meetings
October 13
12:30 – 1:30 PM
3:30 – 4:30 PM
El Franco Lee Community Center
9500 Hall Rd, Houston
October 14
10:00 – 11:00 AM
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Trini Mendenhall Community Center
1414 Wirt Rd, Houston
October 16
10:00 – 11:00 AM
2:00 - 3:00 PM
George HW Bush Community Center
6827 Cypresswood Dr, Spring
October 17
10:00 – 11:00 AM
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Sylvan Beach Park Pavilion 1
1 Sylvan Beach Dr, La Porte
Virtual Retiree OE Meetings
All past webinars are recorded and are available at their respective links on-demand.
October 7
9:00 - 10:00 AM - Meeting Link: https://tinyurl.com/HCRetirees1
October 8
1:00 - 2:00 PM - Meeting Link: https://tinyurl.com/HCRetirees2
October 9 (Humana Only)
1:00 - 2:00 PM - Meeting Link: https://huma.na/harrisco1
October 10 (Humana Only)
10:00 - 11:00 AM - Meeting Link: https://huma.na/harrisco2
Get Ready
The open enrollment period is October 20 – October 31, 2025, so you need to be ready to act then. Enrollment is all online through STARS Employee Self-Service at stars-hr.hctx.net.
That’s 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.
Get a Head Start
If you’re adding dependents, you don’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 2026 Open Enrollment process.
Dependents without supporting documentation uploaded in STARS will not be added to your plan. Please upload documentation by October 31, 2025.