Best Practice: Review Your Covered Dependents

1.5 minute read

Revised April 24, 2023

Many school, city, and county employers offer dependent coverage on their life, vision, medical, or dental insurance. Employees and dependents are added onto the plan and terminated periodically throughout the plan year. When was the last time you verified that all your covered dependents are actually eligible according your policy?

Why should I review?

A dependent review is a way to make sure that your organization provides benefits only to those that are eligible. It ensures compliance and helps control the cost of benefits for everyone. The review will also provide peace of mind to both you and your employees, knowing that everyone’s loved ones are covered. It also protects everyone from future legal and financial risk.

Who would be considered an ineligible dependent?

Do you have any of these types of dependents on your plan? If yes, they may be ineligible for coverage and need to be removed from your plan.

1. Any dependent children who are over the limiting age. Limiting age is stated in your policy.
2. Review your policy to see how your carrier handles an employee’s former spouse and/or former stepchildren due to divorce. They may be ineligible for coverage after the divorce is finalized.
3. Any spouse over the termination age (if applicable) – check your policy.
4. A spouse who works for the same employer. Most policies do not allow a spouse to be covered as both an employee and a dependent.

When should I review?

There is no best time to do a dependent review, do it when you have time. It might make sense to include it during your annual enrollment since you are already capturing a lot of employee information. Other employers may elect to ask for this information when they are doing a beneficiary update with their employees. No matter when you complete this task, make it a best practice to review your dependent information at regular intervals to ensure that your list remains clean.

For questions, contact your NIS Representative.