Scarier than Halloween: Open enrollment. Here's how to save money, even with health insurance premiums at a record high.

It's that time of year again, when signs pop up in offices across the country, exclaiming "Open enrollment!" - as if making annual health insurance choices were just another fun fall activity, like eating pumpkin-flavored doughnuts or buying matching gloves and scarves.

But open enrollment is a serious - and expensive - matter.

Employer-sponsored health insurance for a family now costs an average of $20,576 a year in monthly premiums - a record high, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Workers pay about $6,015 of that and their employers foot the rest.

That's up about 5% from 2018, meaning the cost of health insurance is rising faster than