Health Care Plan Audit

[wigman]

I received a letter from UPS Health care plan requiering me to prove my wife's and my son's elegibility to receive benifits by submitting our tax returns. If I don't do this by Oct. 15 coverage will be dropped. The letter is dated Sept. 15 but I didn't receive it untill yesterday, Oct. 18. Plus we filed an extention twice and didn't file return untill Oct 15. What do I do now?

 

[smf0605]

Wigman, go to upsers.com. There is an 800# you can call.

 

[tieguy]

Call the 1 800 number in the letter .

 

[trouble1903]

This is BS!!! I'm not handing over my tax returns to anyone. A copy of my marriage license should be enough, this is just plain harassment! What's next...DNA tests to prove who you are???!!

 

[rd0127]

You are supposed to blockout/coverup any financial info. and you only send the front sheet that has the dependents listed, not the whole tax return. The rumor is that they have already discovered around 7,000 people who were covered and should not have been. I have a hard time believing wigman "just" heard about this audit. Not only did they send the packet by mail, they have sent several reminder e-mails.

 

[wigman]

Thank you trouble and rd!! That is exactly the way that I see it.

 

[afups]

If a similar audit were made for social security recipients, medicare participants and other entitlement programs we might just cut out a huge chunk out of our deficits. At first, I felt insulted that they were checking me out. Then, I asked myself why they were doing it. After a little bit of thought......I agree with the need for the audit. I just hope that, when they are through, they publish something with the results explained to us.

 

[trouble1903]

Well they are not getting mine. I'm fighting this one.

(Message edited by trouble1903 on October 19, 2003)

 

[wkmac]

I think DNA testing is appropiate and all management should submit to this immediately. They should gladly do this in order to protect earnings and increase stock value. As a shareholder this should have already taken place in order to increase the value of my investment!

I know, I'm a sick puppy!

 

[rd0127]

Trouble1903, I don't understand your argument with this issue. No one is asking for any financial information. They just want to confirm your dependents. Why are you not willing to cooperate? Please explain your stance to me so I can understand. The purpose of this audit is to get rid of the people who are insured and should not be. This will keep cost down for all of us in the long run.

 

[trouble1903]

rd0127, just wondering what you do for UPS? Because I don't get e-mail reminders. I understand the need for an audit, but other legal papers are just as good as my tax returns. Other papers that are public record. My tax return's are just that; mine.
I guess in short I'm drawing the line in the sand on this one.

 

[legs]

I was quite frustrated when I received the audit, how dare they not trust me and ask for my personal documents.

After learning more about the reason that the dependents are being verified I understand more about why they are doing it I'm not taking it personally anymore. The people that are falsely claiming benefits for dependents that aren't theirs are driving up my family's health insurance costs and reducing our future benefits. I sent in my tax return with all the financial info blacked out, no problem.

 

[rd0127]

My husband is a manager. He always forwards any e-mails that he receives regarding healthcare benefits to me because I take care those issues. We have a severely disabled daughter and healthcare is a huge issue in our home.

I know that he has forwarded at least 3 e-mails to me in the last month regarding this audit. I did the same as "legs" and questioned it all in the beginning. But, after I came to understand the reasoning behind the audit, I made my copies and using a regular black permanent marker, blocked out all of the financial info on our tax forms and sent it in with my oldest daughters school documents.

The rising deductibles are definitely enough of a motive for me to help out in any way that I can to keep our out of pocket cost down. Those deductibles can really add up when you have someone in your family with serious health issues.

 

[dammor]

Considering the health care crisis the whole country is going through I think our plan has every right to make sure those who are covered have the right to be so. Granted there may be better ways to prove eligibility other than tax returns, but as RD stated, they are looking for proof of dependents, and no financial imformation need be sent. Insurance fraud is rampant in this country and a cleanup is welcome
in my view. If you are doing nothing wrong there should be no proplem. Don't take it personal.
If you are to do a good job cleaning house it is necessary to look at everything in the house.

 

[smf0605]

trouble1903: The reason you need to send more than your marriage certificate is this: all the marriage certificate proves is you were once married, it doesn't prove that you are currently married.

Like others, I'm unsure why you are so vehemently opposed to showing proof of your dependents eligiblity.

BTW, when the first letter came out, granting amnesty for those who had dependents listed who were not eligible, over 7000 people were dropped.

 

[badhab1]

I noticed that only 132 (approx.) dependents of retirees have been dropped vs over 7000 of those who are working. Guess us old folks are a lot more honest, huh?

 

[badhab1]

I just checked with Kivi. We retirees would not have had those few ineligible ones except that we forgot about them leaving. LOL

 

[trouble1903]

I understand that a paper that say's I married this guy on "X" date can be changed.

But my question is where does it stop? I have nothing to hide. Since 9-11 (when I lost my Aunt/godmother) have done a lot of thinking!!
My question is "what am I willing to loose because of 9-11"??

I base my believe's on what our fore father said, and I believe that this too can be made into a witch hunt. (ie;Bill of right's, constitution, etc)

If we allow then to question and invaid this part of our live's; then where does it stop??

 

[robonono]

<font color="0000ff"><font face="times new roman,times,roman"><font size="+1">
HONESTY!</font></font></font>

 

[tieguy]

"We retirees would not have had those few ineligible ones except that we forgot about them leaving"

LOL, I've heard that taking Ginkoba will help improve the memory. I tried it once but kept forgetting to take it.