ENROLL

Eligibility

ECU Health benefits are available to you if you’re actively at work, and assigned to a payroll classification of 0.5 FTE or higher.
New Hires: Your effective date of coverage is the first day of the month following your date of hire in a benefits-eligible position. For the Employee Assistance Program, you are eligible on your date of hire.

All Team Members: An enrollment window is provided each year so you can review and change your coverage(s) for the following year’s benefits plans, which will go into effect on January 1. You must enroll by the applicable deadline.

Eligible Dependents

  • Your spouse, meaning the individual lawfully married to you.
  • Your domestic partner. Domestic partners must be 18 years of age or older and unmarried; not related by blood in any manner that would prohibit legal marriage; have assumed mutual obligations for the welfare and support of each other; share a common residence and live together as a couple in the same household; and each other’s sole domestic partner.
  • Your qualified children under the age of 26. This can be your biological son or daughter, stepson or stepdaughter, a legally adopted individual, an individual for whom you are legal guardian or who is lawfully placed with you for legal adoption, and/or eligible foster children.
  • Your unmarried child who is disabled, living with you, dependent on you for support and unable to support themselves due to their mental or physical disability.

Documentation Requirements for Dependents

If you enroll your spouse and/or eligible dependent child(ren), when asked, you will need to provide documentation to confirm their eligibility for coverage. After you enroll, you will receive a letter from the Dependent & Life Event Verification team (bswift) to help guide you through the process.

Acceptable forms of documentation include:

  • Marriage license for spouse
  • Domestic partner attestation
  • Birth certificate for children
  • Court-ordered guardianship papers, adoption papers or placement letter
  • Divorce decree to show parent/child relationship when names don’t match or to identify responsibility for providing health coverage

Imputed Income

If you enroll a domestic partner or your partner’s child(ren) under your medical, dental or vision plan, and that individual does not meet the IRS definition of a qualified tax dependent, the IRS considers the fair market value of the additional coverage as “imputed income.”

Unlike health coverage for other family members, the value of the additional coverage is a taxable benefit. This means that the imputed income increases your taxable gross income for purposes of federal income and FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare). Federal and FICA taxes on imputed income are withheld from each paycheck. Imputed income is separate from, and in addition to, your other benefit deductions.

The amount of your imputed income depends on:

  • The plan option(s) in which you are enrolled.
  • The level of coverage you elect.

Imputed income is reported on your annual W-2 form.

Keep in mind that if your dependent is now a team member, you both cannot dually enroll in any benefits coverage. Be sure to review current enrollments to confirm you don’t have duplicate coverage. In addition, an individual may not be considered an eligible dependent for more than one team member.