Companies Crack Down on Defining Dependents in Benefit Plans

By LESLEY ALDERMAN

To the list of letters that produce a groan when they arrive in your mailbox — a jury duty summons, past-due tax bills — add this one: a “dependent audit.”

A what?

A dependent audit comes from your employer, who wants proof that the people you’re carrying on the company health plan really are your dependents. If you can’t prove they are, the company will drop them.

The goal is to ferret out children who are over age 18 and not in school, ex-spouses, sometimes even nieces or nephews — people, in short, who do not meet an employer’s definition of dependent.

If your company does not already conduct these audits, chances are it eventually will. And while it may strike you as an annoyance, do not ignore this task. Otherwise, eligible dependents could lose their health coverage.