UC to ask faculty, staff to validate health care eligibility for dependents
All University of California faculty, staff and retirees who have dependents enrolled in UC-sponsored medical, dental and other insurance plans will be asked to validate their dependents’ eligibility in a project slated to begin in February 2012.
UC Human Resources is launching the project to de-enroll ineligible family members in order to insure compliance with UC’s group insurance regulations and to fulfill UC’s fiduciary responsibility to its employees, retirees and the citizens of California.
"While the vast majority of our people enroll only eligible dependents, previous random reviews have uncovered a small percentage of people who either knowingly or unknowingly enroll ineligible people or fail to de-enroll dependents who are no longer eligible," said Christopher Simon, director of systemwide HR compliance.
"A key fiduciary responsibility for UC as the plan administrator is to make sure the right people are covered. Insuring ineligible dependents costs UC and its faculty, staff and retirees millions of dollars annually in premiums and other costs," Simon said. "It’s in the best interest of the university and our faculty, staff and retirees to be sure only eligible people are covered. Every effort will be made to make the verification process as straightforward as possible."
Employees and retirees who have enrolled dependents can prepare for the review in two ways:
- Gather documents. You may need to provide marriage and birth certificates, federal tax returns, court-ordered divorce decrees, custody agreements and other documents that verify your dependents’ eligibility for UC coverage.
If you believe all of your enrolled dependents are eligible for UC insurance, you need to do nothing more now. Watch for more information in early 2012.
