aireadylife-benefits-op-enrollment-reviewlisted

## What It Does Open enrollment is the single most financially consequential benefits decision most employees make each year — and most people make it in 10 minutes by clicking "keep same elections." This op replaces the default with a structured, data-driven decision based on your actual situation and the real plan options available. **Total cost modeling:** Compares plans by total annual cost, not just premium. Total cost = (monthly employee premium × 12) + expected out-of-pocket spend. Expected OOP is estimated from the user's historical claims data in `vault/benefits/` (EOBs, prior year spending) and family health situation. The op models three scenarios: (1) healthy year — minimal claims, primarily preventive care and prescription maintenance; (2) moderate year — 1-2 significant events such as a specialist visit, outpatient procedure, or urgent care episode; (3) worst-case year — hitting the annual out-of-pocket maximum (plan's OOP max). For each plan option, the total cost in each scenario is calculated so the user can see both the best-case and worst-case cost profile, not just the average. **HDHP + HSA analysis:** When an HDHP option is available, the cost comparison must include the HSA tax benefit. An HDHP with HSA has lower premiums but higher deductibles — but the HSA provides pre-tax contributions (reducing FICA, not just income tax), tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals. For a user in the 22% federal bracket plus state taxes plus 7.65% FICA, the effectiv