Open enrollment is the one stretch of the year when a PepsiCo employee can change what they're covered by, not just confirm it.

The plan that fit last year, especially a healthy year, is not necessarily the cheapest one this year.

The sections below walk through the main plan types, the accounts that pair with them, and a few benefits that get skipped over.

How do the main plan types differ?

An HMO usually limits coverage to its own network and requires a referral to see a specialist; an EPO sets the same network limit but skips the referral requirement.

With a POS plan you pay less in-network and still need a referral, while with a PPO you pay less in-network but can use out-of-network care, without a referral, for an added cost.

A lower premium plan tends to come with a higher deductible or more coinsurance, so the real comparison is total cost for the year a household expects to use care, not the premium line by itself.

What does a high-deductible plan pair with?

For 2027 coverage, the year this open enrollment elects, a plan's deductible has to run at least $1,750 for self-only coverage or $3,500 for family coverage to qualify as an HSA-eligible high-deductible plan, with yearly out-of-pocket costs capped at $8,700 self-only or $17,400 family; the 2026 figures were $1,700/$3,400 for the deductible and $8,500/$17,000 for the out-of-pocket cap.

A household on one of those plans can put up to $4,500 (self-only) or $9,000 (family) into an HSA for 2027, up from $4,400 and $8,750 for 2026, plus $1,000 more for whoever in the household is 55 or older.

HSA contributions skip payroll tax going in, the balance grows without tax, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses come out without tax; nothing is forfeited at year-end, and the account itself moves with the person to a new job or into retirement.

What can a flexible spending account cover?

A health FSA caps 2026 payroll contributions at $3,400, and a plan that allows carryover can let up to $680 of that follow into the next year rather than being forfeited.

The 2027 health FSA cap had not been published as of this writing; outside benefits firms were projecting $3,500 with a $700 carryover based on inflation data, but that is a projection, not an IRS figure.

A dependent care FSA's federal cap rose from $5,000 to $7,500 (half that for a married person filing separately) starting with 2026, under a law change that is written into the statute rather than tied to inflation; PepsiCo's own plan still has to be amended to actually offer the higher amount.

A plan can let unused health FSA money carry over, or give a grace period of up to two and a half months to spend it, but current rules don't allow both at once, so it's worth checking which one PepsiCo actually offers before assuming leftover money will roll forward.

Three steps that make the comparison easier

Adding up last year's premiums, copays, coinsurance, and deductible spending under each plan PepsiCo offers is a faster way to compare options than reading the premium line by itself.

A household with two working spouses is often juggling two separate enrollment deadlines, so deciding which spouse covers which family member deserves the same attention as picking the plan itself.

Checking whether a current doctor, specialist, or prescription is actually in a plan's network, before enrolling rather than after the first bill, is a step that is easy to skip and expensive to skip.

A few benefits worth checking before you decide

An employer can put up to $5,250 a year toward an employee's student loans without it counting as income, and that benefit, once temporary, is now a permanent part of the tax code.

A plan that covers dependents has to extend that coverage to a child until age 26, regardless of the child's school, marital, or job status, which matters for anyone adding a family member this year.

If a spouse has coverage available through their own job, a PepsiCo household is usually weighing two sets of premiums, deductibles, and any spousal surcharge against each other, not just one plan in isolation.

Open enrollment is also when voluntary coverage, dental, vision, disability, and extra life insurance, tends to show up on the list; paying its premium through payroll deduction is often simpler than buying the same coverage on its own, even where PepsiCo isn't putting money toward the cost itself.

Working through these pieces before the deadline is what makes PepsiCo's own open enrollment materials, rather than last year's habit, the thing that actually decides this year's coverage.

What benefits sit alongside PepsiCo's medical plan choices?

A full PepsiCo enrollment checklist also includes a few benefits that sit outside the medical plan choice itself. PepsiCo's own group medical, dental and vision coverage, the PepsiCo Employee Health Care Program, covered 120,519 active employees at the end of plan year 2025, down from 127,695 at the start of that year. Separately, PepsiCo's Group Insurance Program covered about 153,160 people under its basic, employer-paid life insurance contract and about 86,930 people under optional AD&D in the same plan year, coverage that typically renews during open enrollment rather than needing a fresh application. Checking both against this year's elections is part of making an active choice instead of a default one.