As announced last year during Open Enrollment, 2016 will mark the implementation of UT’s Dependent Eligibility Verification Assessment initiative for employees who currently participate in UT’s health-care plans.
Like other Ohio colleges and universities that have conducted similar reviews over the past few years, UT will perform its assessment in November. The Dependent Eligibility Verification Assessment initiative will help to ensure that the health benefit programs offered by The University of Toledo meet the needs of its employees and their eligible dependents.
“The dependent eligibility verification assessment is important for the University in order to continue offering our employees competitive, quality benefits that meet their needs and those of their eligible family members,” said Jovita Thomas-Williams, vice president and chief human resources officer. “It ensures that employees are not missing benefits for eligible dependents or paying premiums for dependents they no longer wish to cover.”
The assessment also ensures that the University is properly exercising its fiduciary responsibility in the administration of its self-funded health-care programs and is in compliance with eligibility requirements as outlined in the summary plan description documents.
To ensure the impartiality of the assessment initiative and the privacy of UT employees, the University will use HMS Employer Solutions, an independent organization, to collect and review documentation that employees will be required to provide for dependents enrolled in any University-sponsored plan in 2016. HMS Employer Solutions is the vendor used by many of the Ohio universities conducting similar dependent verification assessments over recent years.
Acceptable documentation for verification purposes includes birth certificate (displaying parent names), marriage certificate (showing date of marriage), divorce decree, or other court documents with parents’ names for dependent children or legal guardianship and other forms of supportive documentation to verify current state of relationships; these include joint bills or bank statements with spouse’s name or shared address, or redacted prior year 1040 tax returns.
UT will only receive aggregate data from the assessment initiative and will not have access to the documentation employees provide to HMS Employer Solutions. At the end of the assessment initiative, documents submitted by UT employees will be securely destroyed.
Employees are strongly encouraged to begin collecting the documentation needed for the eligible dependents they wish to cover. Employees will be asked to provide only copies of acceptable documentation because the papers will not be returned.
In early September, employees will receive direct communication from HMS Employer Solutions detailing the Dependent Eligibility Verification Assessment process. Notification letters will be sent to employees’ home addresses, so it is important to maintain updated contact information in the myUT portal. Address information can be updated on the employee tab in the portal.
Questions about the dependent eligibility verification assessment should be directed to the University’s Human Resources and Talent Development benefits office at 419.530.4747 or benefits@utoledo.edu.