{"id":2332,"date":"2026-02-11T16:20:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/?page_id=2332"},"modified":"2026-02-11T16:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:20:48","slug":"2026-medical-plan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/2026-medical-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Medical Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><b>For 2026, the Minnesota Star Tribune will continue to offer the PPO and HSA Plans administered by UMR and the Surest Plan.<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Each year, we strive to offer benefits to you and your family that provide protection with choice and flexibility. We hope that you will see our commitment to you and your family by providing benefits that are inclusive, supportive, and responsive to your health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reflective of this commitment, we added Dario Health, a healthy living program to offer resources and care for those dealing with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, weight management, muscloskeletal and mental health.<\/li>\n<li>We also offer a wellness program, with a reduced monthly premium for PPO and the Surest plan, or a higher HSA employer contribution for completing the program.<\/li>\n<li>In addition to the core benefits of medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability, our benefits package include paid time off, 401(k) match, commuter benefits, EAP, and career development through LinkedIn Learning and tuition reimbursement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Star-Tribune-2026-Open-Enrollment-Presentation-1.pdf\">2026 Open Enrollment Presentation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2026 Benefits Highlights \u2013 What\u2019s changing?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Changes to our medical premiums, deductibles, co-insurance, and out-of-pocket maximums, and overall cost sharing percentages.<\/li>\n<li>Telehealth\n<ul>\n<li>The HSA medical plan will now allow for telehealth (general medicine, dermatology, and behavioral heath) visits to be covered by a $15 copay before meeting the deductible. The PPO medical plan already offers this benefit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Flexible Spending Account (FSA):\n<ul>\n<li>The Dependent Care FSA maximum contribution amount will increase to $7,500\u00a0 from $5,000<\/li>\n<li>The Medical FSA is increasing to $3,400 from $3,200 for 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Health Savings Account (HSA):\n<ul>\n<li>The 2026 individual contribution is $4,400 and the 2026 family contribution is $8,750<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Since all the medical plans cover the same type of health care services, you\u2019ll want to pay attention to differences in coverage for in-network providers and out of network providers, your biweekly rates, and some of the set amounts that you will pay out of pocket up front such as prescription copays, deductibles, coinsurance, and copays in the Surest plan. You\u2019ll want to consider the health care needs of you and your eligible dependents.<\/h4>\n<h4>If you participate in the Minnesota Star Tribune Wellness program, you can further reduce your out of-pocket costs.<\/h4>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2026-Rates-for-Stribnet.pdf\">2026 Premiums<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stribnet.startribune.com\/index.php\/2026-benefits-faq\/\"><strong>2026 Benefits FAQ<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Click on the links below for Plan information:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2026-Medical-Plan-Comparison.pdf\">2026 Medical Plan Comparison<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2026_SBC_Star-Tribune-Media-Company_Surest-Lockton.pdf\">2026 Summary of Benefits and Coverage \u2013 Surest\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Star-Tribune-SBC-01-01-2026-PPO.pdf\">2026 Summary of Benefits and Coverage \u2013 PPO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Star-Tribune-SBC-01-01-2026-HSA.pdf\">2026 Summary of Benefits and Coverage \u2013 HSA Plan<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Health-Savings-Account-HSA-Information-2026.pdf\">Health Savings Account HSA<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Flexible-Spending-Accounts-2026-2.pdf\">Flexible Spending Accounts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Coverage-for-spouse-and-adult-children-2026.pdf\">Coverage for Spouse and Adult children<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Before-Tax-and-After-Tax-Premiums-2026-.pdf\">Before-Tax and After-Tax Premiums<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Eligibility\/Mid-Year Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2026-Benefit-Program-Eligibility.pdf\">2026 Benefit Program Eligibility<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Making-Mid-Year-Changes-2026-.pdf\">Making Mid-Year Changes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong><u>Additional Benefit Plans<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Please refer to the menu across the top of this page for detailed information on your other benefit plans.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Contact Information<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the Star Tribune, you may email\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:benefits@startribune.com\">benefits@startribune.com<\/a>\u00a0or call the benefits hotline at (612) 673-7458.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/contact-information\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Provider Contact Information<\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For 2026, the Minnesota Star Tribune will continue to offer the PPO and HSA Plans administered by UMR and the Surest Plan. Each year, we strive to offer benefits to you and your family that provide protection with choice and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/2026-medical-plan\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2333,"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2332\/revisions\/2333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benefits.startribunecompany.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}