Dependent eligibility verification from my employer

[AllyCat]

Employees who pay for insurance through our employer have been sent a letter saying we are required to submit documents (originals no less since Wisconsin does not allow copies) to prove that my family is actually my family. At MY EXPENSE, I have to supply birth certificates, marriage license, and 2011 tax returns to this outfit that also wants this stuff NOTARIZED. All this costs money.

Of course, the corporate line is they are helping us identify who are our dependents and who are not. The Consova website says they are helping companies save money. Of course, we know how this saves money for them. We don't get the documents back and are expected to pay for it or lose coverage for our family members. Basically, we are being accused of fraud until we prove ourselves innocent.

Isn't the information public record and they can get it themselves? I now have to take a couple hours and more money to the Courthouse to get all this stuff and submit it in less than 3 weeks or my kids and husband no longer have insurance coverage. Is this legal? They said it has something to do with ACA.

[IggleDoer]

1. Yes, they wanted our marriage certificate (married 40 years)

I sent them a copy of the original, written in Hebrew. Never heard back from them. It's been two years now.

[hedgehog]

2. I don't know about ACA, but my husband's company pulled the same

stunt last year. It cost us $50 to get a copy of the marriage license!


We're in a two week sign up period in which we have to select our options for next year. The info we've been given is really cute. No one saw fit to tell us that we're being moved from the local plant's plan to the corporate headquarters plan. The plans are roughly the same, but one offers an HSA and FSA with a deductible and the other an FSA only with co-pays, so our selections have to change accordingly. We spent two hours last night figuring out what the differences are. Thank the US government for IRS documents on-line!

So - the company didn't have the means to tell us our plan is changing and what that means, but they did dedicate a page to warning us that a 40% tax on high cost "Cadillac" plans will kick in in 2018! As near as I can tell, high cost is not the same as high benefits, but the brochure isn't clear on that!

[AllyCat]

6. I seriously think I will save all the receipts and submit them to my employer

for reimbursement. I'm so angry. Our union is trying to negotiate with them on this, but there is not much time and I'm pretty sure I won't get this in Scott Walker's new smaller WI government in time for their deadline.

[Thinkingabout]

3. I have known of this happening to my co-workers who have dependents on their insurance.

They were told it was to cut down on fraud with employees adding dependents they was not entitled to add.

[itsrobert]

4. Your tax return is not a public record

If it were, Romney wouldn't be a candidate right now.

[AllyCat]

5. True that :)

[Strelnikov_]

14. That left a mark n/t

[gollygee]

7. I had to prove my daughter wasn't on her spouse's insurance

when she was I think 5. Crazy. I just had to send in a birth certificate showing she was 5, but it did have to be a proper one with a seal.

[liberalhistorian]

11. I remember, back when I was single, having to continually

explain why I "wasn't taking advantage of my spouse's insurance policy." Every fucking six months, my then-employer's insurance company would send me that bullshit question. No matter how many times I responded that I wasn't married and had no spouse with an insurance policy I could be on, they still kept on asking me and demanding marriage certificates, etc. It was as if they just couldn't grasp the fact that there were single employees at this company (there were many, and they all dealt with the same shit). They especially did this when there was a health claim that they didn't want to have to pay (like when I broke my wrist and had to have surgery, or when I had pneumonia).

Finally, in utter frustration, I responded that I wasn't currently married, but that if they had anyone in mind to please send me his name, picture and number and I'd take it from there so as to relieve them from the burden of having to continually send letters asking for marital insurance information. I'm sure they weren't amused, but it sure made me feel better.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

8. Nothing to do with ACA

I've had to this for years, except that I was permitted to make copies of the actual docs and send in. It's a pain, but I can see why employers do it.

[AllyCat]

9. But isn't this stuff public record?

I can pay $1 or something like that to run somebody's license plate because it is "public record". Why can't they do it and be done with it? What is wrong with just a copy of the tax return showing my dependents and husband on it? It's good enough for the IRS.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

10. Don't know

But if I'm an employer, I'm not going to go out and get all of this info for a hundred employees.
As for running tags, I'm surprised at that, as it seems to me that making DMV records public would be pretty dangerous.

[Indykatie]

12. Dependent Verification Audits Not Uncommon

Usually you are required to only provide marriage license or birth certificates for children. Since our company covers domestic partners we didn't remove many adults from the plan simply reclassified them as DPs not spouses. We did find more than a few children who were not eligible to be on the company plan. (nieces, nephews, no relation at in some cases) Sorry if it's a burden for you as you don't already have copies of these documents on hand. It is odd that they want originals. I would verify that point with your employer or the Vendor doing the dependent verification. That would be highly unusual. This has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the ACA.

[AllyCat]

13. They don't care what they get, but in Wisconsin, it is illegal to make copies

of such documents. You must get an "original copy" and then pay to have it notarized to send to them. Our CEO has already told employees who are notaries NOT to notarize for staff.

Financially, it is a burden for many. For us alone, it will cost $90 for documents not including notary fees. Then you have to send them. The lady at Consova recommends certified mail. More $. I didn't get EXTRA copies because it never occurred to me years ago that in this day and age, I would have to prove it to my employer of many years just to get insurance that I PAY FOR.

The hoops to jump through are ridiculous and the assumption is that we are all frauds until we prove ourselves. And if your company removed mostly children, that is horrible. This is a plan to get more people off of employer insurance to save the employer and insurance company money since they now actually have to pay for care. And that is not in their business model.