Have You Verified Covered Dependent Eligibility Lately?

Many public sector organizations offer dependent coverage in addition to employee coverage. While HR/Benefits departments closely keep track of adding and terminating employees monthly, keeping the dependent spouse and/or children list accurate may not be considered as crucial. When is the last time you verified that your covered dependents are eligible? If you haven’t performed this task in a while, it might be a good time to do so.

Why review?

It is necessary for a dependent review to ensure that you are only offering benefits to those who are eligible. In addition, it:

• Helps control the cost of benefits for all
• Ensures compliance
• Protects everyone from legal & financial risk
• Provides peace of mind that everyone’s loved ones are covered

Who would be considered an ineligible dependent?

Make sure your plan does not contain these types of dependents:

1. Dependent children over the limiting age. See your policy for details.
2. Any spouse over the termination age. Check your policy to see if this is applicable.
3. A spouse who works for the same employer. Most policies don’t allow a spouse to be covered as both an employee and dependent.
4. If divorce occurs, review your policy to see how it handles an employee’s former spouse and/or former stepchildren. Once the divorce is finalized, they may be ineligible.

When is the best time to review?

The best time to do a dependent review is when you have time to do it. It might make sense to do it during your annual enrollment process. Others might elect to ask for this information when employees are updating their beneficiaries. But it is important to review this list during regular intervals to ensure that you are providing and paying for benefits to only those who are eligible.

Contact your NIS Representative if you have any questions.