Ok, this may sound silly, but everyone I ask doesnt know and want to know now as well!
So lets say I add a child to the health insurance now (open enrollment is not until Oct) since they're modifying my benefits because I'm adding a child...does that mean I can upgrade all my benefits (dental, vision) while I'm at it? I would only be adding the child to health and vision, but not dental, however I want to upgrade my current dental.
Yes. At my work, benefits enrollment is very soon so we talked about it some things including changing coverage. So making an upgrade is something you can do.
My understanding of this issue is as follows. You cannot change your plans when you are adding a dependent. You need to upgrade at open enrollment.
I would just check with your HR, it's a straightforward question. Different companies have different rules. Where I use to work dental only has open enrollment every two years. That was so you didn't go to the dentist for a year and then take the next year off to save money.