📅 Fresh updates, new savings, and more ways to make your benefits work even harder for you.
The 2026 plan year brings meaningful enhancements across your benefits — including boosted IRS savings limits, a small update to one Regence medical plan, and brand-new voluntary benefits that expand your protection and give you even more choice. All other 2025 benefits carry forward unchanged, so you can move into the new year with confidence and clarity.
This year’s updates are designed to help you save more, plan smarter, and customize your coverage in ways that fit your life. Whether you want to increase tax-advantaged savings, double-check your medical coverage, or explore newly added programs like Accident Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, and Pet Insurance — there’s something here for everyone.
✨ Dive into the highlights below to see what’s new, what’s changing, and how to make the most of your benefits during Open Enrollment.
Medical Plan Updates (Regence)
🏥 Same great coverage, slight deductible update—and important things to double-check.
Two of our Regence medical plans remain unchanged for 2026:
- Regence Platinum 250 Preferred – no changes
- Regence Gold HSA 1800 Preferred – no changes
The one update for 2026 is to the former Regence Platinum 1500 Preferred, which has been renamed to Regence Platinum 1200 Preferred. The plan design is the same — only the deductible increased slightly:
- Employee-only deductible: $1,200 (previously $1,150)
- Family deductible: $2,400 (previously $2,300)
Other than the deductible adjustment, all other plan elements remain unchanged — including copays, coinsurance, out-of-pocket maximums, services covered, pediatric dental/vision, cost-sharing structure, and how the plan works day-to-day.
Prescription Coverage (Regence)
📌 Don’t forget:
Carriers — including Regence — refresh their drug formularies every January. Be sure to check prescription coverage before selecting your plan and ahead of the new plan year.
👉 https://www.regence.com/member/drug-list#Through-company-50-employees-or-less-
Commuter Benefits
🚉 Commute smart, save more, and benefit every month.
For 2026, the IRS monthly limits have increased:
- Parking: Increases to $340/month (from $325)
- Transit/vanpool: Increases to $340/month (from $325)
📌 Tip:
Contribute exactly what you expect to spend each month — unused commuter funds cannot be refunded or transferred.
Flexible Spending Accounts (HFSA and DCFSA)
💳 Contribute wisely, maximise tax savings, and support your family’s needs.
Health Care FSA (HFSA)
- Contribution limit increases to $3,400 (from $3,300)
- Carryover maximum increases to $680 (from $660)
- Carryover applies only to the HFSA, not the DCFSA
Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA)
- Household contribution limit increases to $7,500 (from $5,000)
- Married filing separately: limit is $3,750 each (for the same household total)
Health Savings Account (HSA)
💛 Save more today, invest for tomorrow, and use with freedom.
If you’re enrolled in the Regence Gold HSA 1800 Preferred plan, here are the 2026 IRS limit updates:
- Individual contribution limit: $4,400 (from $4,300)
- Family contribution limit: $8,750 (from $8,550)
- Catch-up (age 55+): unchanged at $1,000
- Minimum HDHP deductible: $1,700 individual / $3,400 family
- Maximum HDHP out-of-pocket: $8,500 individual / $17,000 family
These updates give HSA participants even more room to save pre-tax and invest long-term.
📌 Reminder:
You can only contribute to an HSA if you are enrolled in the Gold HSA 1800 Preferred plan and have no other disqualifying coverage.
Retirement & Retirement Contributions
🏦 Save consistently, plan for growth, and secure your future.
Projected 2026 IRS updates:
- Elective deferral limit: increases to $24,500
- Catch-up 50+ limit: increases to $8,000
- “Super” catch-up (age 60–63): projected around $12,000 (if plan permits)
🔔 Important SECURE 2.0 Change for 2026: If you earned more than ~$145,000 from Tenpoint in 2025, all catch-up contributions must be Roth (after-tax) beginning in 2026. (Standard deferrals are not affected.)
Other Notable Adjustments
📘 Stay informed about additional benefit limits and plan changes.
- The maximum amount for an Excepted Benefit Health Reimbursement Arrangement (EBHRA) increases to $2,200.
- The annual adoption assistance credit increases to $17,670.
New Voluntary Benefits for 2026
✨ More choice. More flexibility. More ways to protect what matters to you.
This year we’re excited to introduce four new optional, employee-paid benefits through Unum, plus a new pet insurance option from ASPCA®.
New Unum voluntary benefits (all included in Open Enrollment in Rippling):
- Accident Insurance
- Critical Illness Insurance
- Hospital Indemnity Insurance
- Voluntary Life & AD&D (enhanced info + streamlined underwriting)
New voluntary program (outside Rippling):
- ASPCA® Pet Insurance — employees enroll directly (details coming soon)
These benefits offer competitive group pricing that is typically lower than individual retail plans, helping employees customize their financial protection with added flexibility and affordability.
What This Means for You
Review your current elections, adjust for the new year, and make the most of your benefits. Now is the perfect time to:
- Review your elections for 2026
- Adjust FSA, HSA, or commuter contributions to match the new limits
- Explore our new voluntary benefits
- Double-check your medications against the updated Regence formulary
- Consider the HSA-qualified plan if you want long-term tax-free growth
- Update your retirement contribution strategy, especially if making catch-up contributions
- Stay aware of the Roth catch-up change in retirement plans if you’re age 50+ and benefit-eligible
- Review your payroll deductions and update them if needed before your next election period
🤝 Need Help?
- Plan questions? Contact the USI Benefit Resource Center.
- Ready to review or update elections? Log into Rippling → My Benefits.
- Curious about voluntary benefits? Check your Open Enrollment documents for plan summaries and pricing.
We’re here to help you make the most of everything Tenpoint offers.