Dependent Eligibility

Many of the benefits plans allow you to add eligible family members to the same plan in which you are enrolled.

Depending on the plan, eligible family members may include:

• Your spouse
• Your common-law spouse if you live in a state that recognizes such marriages
• Your same sex or opposite sex domestic partner and eligible dependent children (enrollment is limited to medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, life insurance and legal plan)
• Your unmarried children and step-children, up to age 25, who are financially dependent on you for support
• Your unmarried children who are at least age 25 and are incapable of self-support because of a mental or physical disability
• Unmarried minor children up to age 18 for whom you have legal guardianship.

Dependent Verification

If you are adding a new dependent to the plans, you will be required to submit verification of their eligibility before they will be added to the plan(s). The necessary forms will be included with your enrollment confirmation statement after you enroll:

• If you and your spouse filed jointly, a copy of the first page of your most recent year’s federal tax return (FTR) is required to prove your spouse’s eligibility. 
• To prove the eligibility of children from birth through age 23, the first page of your FTR showing you claimed the child(ren) is required. 

If You Cannot Provide the Federal Tax Return as Proof:

• For spouse:  a copy of your marriage certificate plus proof the marriage is still current (a household bill or statement of account listing the employee’s name and the spouse’s name at the same address, dated within the last 60 days) is required.  Please note: a bill with just the spouse’s name will suffice if it is the same address the employee resides, dated within the last 60 days.
• For unmarried children 18 and under:  A properly completed Verification of Eligibility for a Dependent (VED) form along with a copy of their birth certificate which shows either the employee as the natural parent OR the spouse of the employee as the natural parent.  For adopted children we would need a copy of the adoption document showing the employee and/or their spouse as the adoptive parent along with the VED.
• For unmarried children 19-25:  A properly completed VED form along with a copy of the child’s own most recent FTR.  If they claimed themselves as a dependent then they do not meet the criteria of a qualified dependent and cannot be on the employee’s coverage.  If they did not check the box to claim themselves, then they meet the are eligibility requirements provided the proper boxes could be checked on the VED.

NOTE:  You must immediately notify the Service Center at Banner Plan Administration when your dependent(s) no longer meet the eligibility requirements.