A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT MEDICAL INSURANCE: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) mandates that employers' medical insurance plans can no longer decline to cover eligible employees or their dependents because of their history of claims or their current health condition. Temporary or substitute workers are not eligible for District benefits. The District's medical insurance plans do not require a "Statement of Physical Condition" from any eligible employee or dependent seeking coverage. Coverage for new enrollees will begin May 1. Pre-existing condition limitations or exclusions do not apply to the district's two major medical plans, the new Cy-Fair I.S.D. PPO or the Cigna HMO plan. Employees need to be sure of the selections that they make during the annual renewal/enrollment period. Unless an employee experiences a "qualifying event" under Section 125 of the Internal Code, coverage choices are permanent for the next twelve (12) months.
News about Dependent Children and Grandchildren - Texas State House Bill 1440
The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1440 last year. This law affects employees with unmarried, dependent children and/or dependent grandchildren. The law requires group health plans to make coverage available to unmarried, dependent children up to age 25, regardless of their student status. The district will no longer require evidence of full-time student status in order to continue your dependent child's coverage under the plan. However, evidence of full-time student status will be accepted to verify a child's dependency. NOTE: Evidence of dependency may be required at anytime a claim is incurred for a dependent child age 19 to 25.
Grandchildren also benefit from the new law. Employees desiring to add unmarried, dependent grandchildren to their coverage may do so only after providing evidence of dependency. Children of an employee's unmarried, covered dependent child will continue to be eligible for coverage immediately from his or her date of birth. Other grandchildren must satisfy eligibility criteria as outlined below. However, once a grandchild is covered, the employee does not need to show evidence of continued dependency unless there is a break in coverage.
The district will use the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dependency tests as a guideline to determine a child's or grandchild's eligibility for coverage under the district's group health plan. The tests are effectively the same that would be used to determine if the child is eligible to be claimed as a dependent exemption for income tax purposes. The tests may be found on the IRS website, www.irs.gov.
To be eligible for coverage a child or grandchild must satisfy all of the following criteria.
Special Note: An employee may be required to verify compliance with all the criteria by signing a notarized affidavit attesting to the dependent status of a child. Additionally, an employee will be required to sign an IRS Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization form.