Build an open enrollment explainer employees understand: what changed, what to compare, deadlines, qualifying events, and how to make it an updatable video.
Most open enrollment communication fails in the same place: it explains the benefits and forgets the decision. Employees receive a plan catalog, a portal link, and a deadline, then open the enrollment screen with no idea whether the lower premium or the lower deductible makes sense for their family.
An open enrollment explainer fixes that by walking employees through the decision itself. In a few minutes, it should answer six questions: what changed this year, what choices do I have, what should I compare, what do I need to do, by when, and where do I check the details. Everything plan-specific comes from your plan documents; the explainer makes those documents understandable.
This guide covers what open enrollment means in an employer context, the framework every explainer should follow, how employees should compare health plans, what happens after a missed deadline, and a production workflow that keeps the explainer accurate year after year.
TL;DR: A strong open enrollment explainer tells employees what changed, what choices they have, what to compare, what action to take, the deadline, and where to verify details. It simplifies your plan documents without replacing them. Produce it in HeyGen, because an HR-approved script becomes a presenter-led video with captions, and next year's premium or plan changes mean editing the script and regenerating, then localizing the same video for multilingual teams.
- A live benefits session still wins when employees need to ask questions in real time.
- Carrier or broker-provided videos cover plan basics well when you have no bandwidth to build your own.
- A written benefits guide remains essential as the searchable reference behind any video.
What Is Open Enrollment?
In an employer context, open enrollment is the annual window when eligible employees can review, change, add, or drop their workplace benefit elections for the next plan year. The timing follows the employer's plan renewal cycle, so it varies from company to company.
Depending on the employer, open enrollment can cover:
- Medical insurance, including plan choice and coverage tier
- Dental and vision coverage
- Life and disability insurance
- Voluntary benefits, such as accident or critical illness coverage
- Dependent elections, including adding or removing a spouse or children
- Tax-advantaged accounts where offered, such as HSAs or FSAs
Employer open enrollment is not Marketplace or Medicare enrollment
The phrase "open enrollment" describes three separate systems, and employees regularly confuse them. That confusion is why an explainer should state which one it covers in the first few seconds.
An employee who hears about Marketplace deadlines on the news may assume their employer's window works the same way. It doesn't, and your explainer should say so plainly.
What an Open Enrollment Explainer Should Cover
The most useful explainers follow a decision sequence rather than a benefits tour. Use this framework as the spine of your script:
- What changed? Lead with differences from last year: new plans, removed options, premium changes, carrier or network changes.
- What choices do you have? Summarize the available options in one or two sentences each.
- What should you compare? Point employees to the handful of factors that drive the decision, covered in detail below.
- What action do you need to take? Enroll, confirm, waive, add dependents, or re-elect accounts that require annual action.
- By when? State the exact deadline and the time zone.
- Where do you verify details or get help? Name the benefits portal, the plan documents, and the HR or benefits contact.
"What changed" deserves the top slot because returning employees tune out anything that sounds like last year's message. If nothing changed in a category, say so in a sentence and move on.
Plan Documents Are the Source of Truth
An explainer video summarizes your plan documents and never overrides them. For employer health coverage, a sensible hierarchy looks like this: governing plan documents, then the Summary Plan Description (SPD) and Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC), then your benefits guide, then the HR-approved explainer, then reminders and FAQs.
The SBC is especially useful for explainer writers. Group health plans provide it in a standardized format that summarizes benefits, cost-sharing, and coverage limitations, which means it already lists the numbers employees need to compare plans side by side. Build your script from the SBC and SPD, and send employees back to them for anything specific.
This hierarchy also defines where video production fits. Once HR and your benefits broker approve the script, HeyGen can handle the production layer: a corporate video maker workflow turns that script into a branded video with a speaking presenter and captions, and when a premium or deadline changes, you edit the text and regenerate instead of reshooting. The platform delivers your message; verifying eligibility rules, costs, and plan terms stays with HR and your plan materials.
What Employees Should Compare Before Choosing a Health Plan
Most confusion during open enrollment comes from a handful of insurance terms that sound similar but work differently. Define each one the moment it becomes relevant, and link employees to their plan's SBC for the exact numbers.
- Premium: What comes out of each paycheck for coverage, whether or not you use care.
- Deductible: What a covered person may pay for certain services before the plan starts sharing costs.
- Copayment: A fixed amount for a service, such as a flat fee for an office visit.
- Coinsurance: A percentage of the cost you pay after the deductible, such as 20%.
- Out-of-pocket maximum: The most you'd pay for covered in-network care in a plan year, not counting premiums.
- Network: The doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies with contracted rates under the plan.
- Prescription coverage: Which drugs are covered, at what tier, and what you pay.
- Dependent cost: How much more each coverage tier costs when you add a spouse or children.
A simple way to compare total cost
Premium and deductible only make sense together. Teach employees to estimate a realistic annual range for each plan: annual premiums at the low end, plus annual premiums and the out-of-pocket maximum at the high end.
Here's an illustrative example your explainer could show on screen. Plan A costs $100 per paycheck in premiums with a $4,000 out-of-pocket maximum. Plan B costs $160 per paycheck with a $2,000 maximum. An employee paid 26 times a year pays $2,600 in Plan A premiums versus $4,160 in Plan B. In a healthy year, Plan A costs less. In a year with major medical expenses, the totals land close together. The right choice depends on expected care, preferred providers, and prescriptions, which is exactly why the explainer should teach the comparison rather than recommend a plan.
What Happens If You Miss Open Enrollment?
If an employee misses the open enrollment deadline, they generally keep their current elections, get default coverage, or have no coverage, depending on the plan's rules, until the next enrollment window. Some elections, such as FSA contributions, often require an active choice each year. Your explainer should state exactly what happens at your company if someone does nothing.
Qualifying life events and special enrollment
Open enrollment isn't the only chance to change coverage. Certain events can open a special enrollment period outside the annual window, including:
- Loss of other health coverage
- Marriage
- Birth, adoption, or placement for adoption
- Certain Medicaid or CHIP coverage or premium-assistance changes
The timing rules matter here. Under HIPAA, group health plans must give employees at least 30 days after events like marriage, birth, adoption, or loss of other coverage to request special enrollment, and 60 days for certain Medicaid or CHIP changes. The Department of Labor's guide to life changes and health choices walks through these situations. Your plan may allow longer windows, so point employees to HR for their specific deadline.
What You Need Before You Make the Explainer
Gather these items before production starts. Each has a "good enough" bar so the project keeps moving.
- A verified fact sheet: Plan names, per-paycheck premiums by tier, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, the enrollment window, and the portal URL. One page is enough, approved by your broker or benefits lead.
- A "what changed" list: Every difference from last year, ranked by how many employees it affects. Three to five items usually cover it.
- The default rule: Exactly what happens if an employee does nothing, category by category.
- A help route: One named contact or inbox for questions, plus office hours if you run them.
- Language needs: The languages your workforce uses for important HR communication.
How to Make an Open Enrollment Explainer with HeyGen
Once the fact sheet is approved, a first explainer takes an afternoon, and future updates take far less time.
Step 1: Turn the fact sheet into a script outline
Map each item on your fact sheet to one of the six framework questions. Keep plan-specific numbers in a separate column so reviewers can check them against the SBC quickly. If an item doesn't answer one of the six questions, it probably belongs in the written benefits guide instead. The fundamentals of how to write a video script apply here too, especially keeping one idea per scene. Budget 30 minutes with your benefits lead.
Step 2: Write a two-to-four-minute script in plain language
Write the way you'd explain benefits to a new hire at their desk. Open with the one change that affects the most people, define each insurance term only when it appears, and end with the deadline and help route. Write numbers the way you want them spoken, such as "one hundred dollars per paycheck." Roughly 350 to 550 words fits a two-to-four-minute video at a calm pace. Send the draft to your broker or benefits lead for fact-checking before production.
Step 3: Choose a presenter employees will trust
Employees pay more attention when the message comes from someone they recognize, such as the benefits manager or CHRO. An AI avatar generator flow can create a Digital Twin of that person from a 15-second recording, so the same trusted face presents every year without a new filming session. If you prefer a neutral presenter, paid plans include 700+ stock avatars.
Step 4: Generate the draft and build the key visuals
Paste the approved script into a new video and generate the first draft, which usually takes a few minutes. Then open it in AI Studio and add on-screen support where it matters most: a side-by-side plan comparison card, the total-cost example, the deadline as large text, and the portal URL on the closing card. Apply your Brand Kit so the explainer matches your other HR materials. If your benefits deck already exists, PowerPoint and PDF imports can bring those slides straight into the project.
Step 5: Review against the plan documents, then publish
Watch the full draft with the SBC open beside you. Check every premium, deductible, date, and plan name, and confirm captions match the narration exactly. Adjust pronunciation for plan names and terms like "HSA" before rendering. Publish the video at the top of your benefits portal page and in the open enrollment announcement email, with the written guide linked directly below it.
Step 6: Localize for multilingual employees
If your workforce includes employees who prefer Spanish or other languages, create translated versions from the same approved source video. A video localization workflow translates, dubs, subtitles, and synchronizes the video into 177+ languages and dialects, so every version carries the same approved message. Pro plans let you edit and proofread the translation script, and every translated version should still get a benefits review before it goes out.
Keeping the Explainer Current Every Enrollment Cycle
Here is what most open enrollment guidance misses. Benefits communication isn't a one-time asset. Plan names, premiums, deadlines, carriers, and portal links can all change each year, and an old explainer that keeps circulating is worse than no explainer at all. Compliance teams face the same update problem, and a review of the best AI video platforms for compliance training covers how HR teams handle re-renders, LMS delivery, and review cycles.
Treat the video like a versioned document. Keep one master script with bracketed fields for every value that can change: plan year, enrollment window, premiums by tier, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, and the portal URL.
Each cycle, update the fields, rerun the review, regenerate, and replace the old video everywhere it lives. Put the plan year on screen at the start and end, so anyone who finds last year's version can tell immediately.
A modular approach makes this easier. Instead of one long video, many HR teams publish a short series: "What changed this year," "How to compare medical plans," "HSA and FSA basics," "How to add dependents," and "What happens if you do nothing." Because each clip comes from its own short script, a script to video workflow lets you regenerate only the segments that changed while the evergreen ones stay untouched.
Common Mistakes in Open Enrollment Explainers
Quoting Marketplace dates in an employer explainer
National news coverage focuses on Marketplace enrollment, and its dates can change. Copying those dates into an employer explainer confuses employees whose window runs on a completely different schedule. Always use your plan's actual enrollment dates.
Telling employees there's nothing to review
"No changes this year" is rarely the whole story. Employees should still confirm dependents, providers, prescriptions, contributions, and any accounts that require annual re-election. Tell them what to double-check even when plans stay the same.
Recommending a specific plan
Employees have different health needs, family situations, preferred doctors, and budgets. An explainer that says "most people should pick Plan B" oversteps. Teach the comparison, then let employees decide.
Skipping the final-review reminder
Enrollment errors often happen at the last click, such as a dependent left unchecked. End the explainer by telling employees to review their confirmation page and verify every covered family member before submitting.
Other Ways to Deliver an Open Enrollment Explainer
Host a live benefits session or webinar
HR or the broker presents plans live, in person or online, and takes questions.
Pros:
- Employees can ask plan-specific questions in real time
- Builds trust through direct access to HR
- Easy to adapt to the audience in the room
- Works well for complex plan changes
Cons:
- Employees who miss the session get nothing unless it's recorded, and recordings are long and hard to update when a detail changes
- Scheduling across shifts and time zones limits attendance
Use carrier or broker-provided videos
Many insurance carriers and brokers supply general videos explaining plan types and insurance terms.
Pros:
- Ready immediately with no production work
- Usually accurate on general insurance concepts
- Professionally produced by the carrier
- Free as part of the carrier or broker relationship
Cons:
- Generic content can't cover your company's specific changes, premiums, or deadlines, which are the details employees need most
- Branding and tone rarely match your internal communication
Rely on a written benefits guide only
A PDF or intranet guide covering every plan, rate, and rule.
Pros:
- Searchable and easy to reference later
- Simple to update and distribute
- Holds every plan-specific detail
- Easy for legal and benefits teams to review
Cons:
- Long guides are often skimmed, so employees miss the one change that affects them
- Offers no personal presence to reduce anxiety about a complex decision
How the methods compare
The AI route has trade-offs worth knowing: premium avatar output draws from a monthly credit allowance that takes a billing cycle to learn, and every translated version still needs human review for plan names and benefits terms.
The Bottom Line
Employees don't need to become benefits experts during open enrollment. They need enough clarity to make one confident decision and avoid one costly mistake. An explainer that leads with what changed, teaches the comparison, states the default, and points to the plan documents gives them exactly that, and it saves HR from answering the same questions in a hundred separate emails.
The real challenge is keeping that clarity accurate every year while premiums, plans, and deadlines shift. Build the explainer as a versioned script, and next year's update becomes a review cycle instead of a production project.
HeyGen's Free plan lets you test the format with up to three one-minute videos a month. Creator costs 24 billed annually) with 1080p export and voice cloning, Pro starts at $49 a month with 4K export and translation script proofreading, and Business runs $149 a month plus $20 per added seat, adding SSO, workspace collaboration, SCORM export, and LMS integrations for HR teams. Compare plans on the HeyGen pricing page and turn this year's benefits guide into an explainer every employee will finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a qualifying life event?
A qualifying life event is a change that can let you enroll in or change health coverage outside open enrollment. Common examples include marriage, birth or adoption, and losing other health coverage. Employer plans generally require you to request enrollment within a set window, often at least 30 days.
Do benefits automatically renew if I do nothing during open enrollment?
It depends on your employer's plan. Some elections roll over automatically, while others, such as flexible spending account contributions, often require a new election each year. Check your benefits guide or ask HR exactly what happens by default, and review your elections even if coverage renews.
Can I change my health insurance outside open enrollment?
Usually only with a qualifying life event. Events like marriage, birth, adoption, or loss of other coverage can trigger special enrollment rights in employer plans, with deadlines that commonly start at 30 days. Contact HR promptly after the event, since missing the window may mean waiting until next open enrollment.
How long should an open enrollment explainer video be?
Most open enrollment explainer videos work best at two to four minutes for the main overview. That covers what changed, key choices, the deadline, and where to get help. Topics like HSA basics or adding dependents work better as separate short videos employees can watch when relevant.
What is a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC)?
A Summary of Benefits and Coverage is a standardized document health plans provide to explain benefits, cost-sharing, and coverage limitations. Because every SBC uses the same format, it's the easiest way for employees to compare plans side by side. Key terms are defined in the official SBC glossary.
Why doesn't my employer's open enrollment match Marketplace dates?
Employer open enrollment follows your company's plan year, while Marketplace enrollment follows federal or state exchange rules. The two systems are separate, so their dates often differ. For workplace benefits, always use the dates your employer announces rather than Marketplace deadlines you see in the news.
