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Open Enrollment in Santa Cruz

Flex your well power. This open enrollment, choose a plan that includes Dignity Health doctors and hospitals.

 

How Do You Get Insurance?

It’s important to understand what options are available to you, and how these choices will impact you and your family’s health care coverage in the coming year. 

How To Enroll

With open enrollment coming only once a year, you’ll want to make the most of your choices and understand what options are available to you.

  1. Select an insurance plan accepted by Dignity Health. 
  2. Find a Dignity Health primary care doctor that meets your needs.
  3. Enroll in your chosen plan based on your employer’s instructions, or work with a broker.

If you have a doctor or group of doctors you have been seeing or would like to see, be sure they are in the health plan's network. Don’t forget to verify if with the insurance plan your doctor is in network.

Why Dignity Health

As the largest healthcare network in Santa Cruz County, Dignity Health brings quality, local care to our community. Our renowned physicians, specialists and award-winning, full-service hospital provide the most sophisticated and comprehensive care in the Monterey Bay area. 

Dignity Health has been providing nationally recognized health care to the Santa Cruz County community for over 80 years.

By choosing a health insurance plan that connects you to Dignity Health, you’ll have access to over 200 physicians and over 100 locations in our local network. 

The Dignity Health Network

With the largest physician network in Santa Cruz County, Dignity Health delivers access through Dignity Health Medical Group-Dominican, which is part of the broader Dignity Health Medical Network-Santa Cruz (DHMN-Santa Cruz) that includes hundreds of affiliated independent physicians and specialists. 

Our doctors are here to care for patients  through every stage of life. By choosing a Dignity Health primary care physician (PCP), patients have access to timely care, virtual visits, Dignity Health's online tools and patient portal, and much more. 

Our Hospital

For over 80 years Dominican Hospital has been caring for the Santa Cruz County community, offering quality-focused comprehensive care serving the health care needs of the Monterey Bay region. 

Learn more about our facilities and the services.

Additional Resources

Tips For Navigating Open Enrollment

To make the most of your choices during open enrollment, it’s important to understand what your plan options are and what effect they have on the health care you and your family will receive in the coming year. We can help.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Open Enrollment is a time of year when you can sign up for health insurance. The dates depend on your employer but are generally offered in the fall. Additionally, you may qualify to enroll if you have a qualifying life event, like losing coverage through your employer.

 

Dignity Health is not a health insurance company. Dignity Health is a provider network of more than 60,000 caregivers and staff who deliver excellent care to diverse communities in hospitals, physician offices and other types of care centers in 21 states. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is the fifth largest health system in the nation and the largest hospital provider in California.

 

A primary care doctor helps you to manage your health. Common services include regular physical exams, prescribing medications, treating minor illness and injuries, managing chronic conditions, and screenings for common health problems.
 

Should you need specialized care, your primary care doctor can expertly guide your next steps, and connect you to the right specialist. There are five main types of primary care doctors: Family medicine doctors for the whole family; internal medicine-pediatric doctors for preventing and treating diseases, pediatricians who specialize in children, internal medicine doctors who care for adults, and OB-GYNs for adult women.


Choosing and building a relationship with one of these doctors can help you live a healthy lifestyle based on your individual needs.

 

It's a good idea to confirm your doctor and your hospital of choice are covered by your new insurance for the upcoming year by checking the insurance website or calling your insurance carrier directly. Do not assume your physician is covered without checking first. Doctors and hospitals may periodically change the insurance they accept.

 

One type of health insurance is not better than the other, but there are differences. With an HMO plan you will choose a Primary Care Provider (PCP), who will coordinate the care you need for any specialists. Services are all provided through physicians and facilities in the health plan's HMO network. With a PPO you may also choose a PCP, but you will not need a referral to see another physician. It will usually cost less to see in-network physicians than an out-of-network physician. Whether you are considering an HMO or a PPO, you can check which doctors, medical groups, hospitals, etc. are in the network before you enroll.

 

A health insurance broker or agent is a person who can help you apply for help to pay for your health insurance and enroll in a health plan. They can make specific recommendations about which plan to enroll in based on your health care needs. They are licensed and regulated by states and typically get payments, or commissions, from health insurers and therefore, consumers do not pay for their services. Dignity Health offers a list of brokers here who provide enrollment assistance over the phone and in person.

 


Dignity Health is not a health insurance company. Dignity Health is a provider network of more than 60,000 caregivers and staff who deliver excellent care to diverse communities in hospitals, physician offices and other types of care centers in 21 states. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is the fifth largest health system in the nation and the largest hospital provider in California.