As part of our efforts to continue to provide competitive benefits at a reasonable cost for state employees and retirees, ERS works with Alight Solutions (formerly Aon Hewitt) to verify the eligibility of family members to participate in the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP). The verifications help prevent fraud by ensuring that only eligible dependents get health coverage. Between Fiscal Years 2012 and 2016, the GBP saved about $34 million by verifying dependents’ eligibility. These savings help ERS offer high-quality health insurance at overall costs that are equal to or less than what other employers provide.

Alight Solutions (formerly known as Aon Hewitt) is the third-party administrator that ERS works with to conduct dependent eligibility verifications. For verifications, Alight Solution will:

• contact participants by phone, mail and/or email,
• answer questions about the verification process and policies,
• provide a secure verification website,
• receive and review documents,
• destroy all hard-copies of your documents at their secure facility, after they complete the verification, and
• notify ERS of the verification results.

Yes. Before 2012, when it was known as Aon Hewitt, Alight conducted two dependent eligibility audits for ERS. Since 2012, it has been verifying Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) members’ new dependents on an ongoing basis.

If you’re a new employee and are adding dependents to health coverage, you must complete the dependent eligibility verification. If you add a dependent to health coverage during Summer or Fall Enrollment or due to a qualifying life event (QLE), you must provide proof to Alight Solutions (our third-party administrator, formerly known as Aon Hewitt) that the dependent is eligible for coverage.

After ERS processes your dependent's enrollment in coverage, Alight will contact you to get copies of documents proving your dependents are eligible. Alight will not accept a verification document dated after you enrolled the dependent, even if the date on the document is before the coverage start date. (For example, if you enroll a new spouse on February 7, 2018 – for coverage to start on March 1, 2018 – and submit a marriage license dated February 10, 2018, Alight will not accept that marriage license as document as proof of eligibility. You would have to re-enroll the new spouse on or after February 10.)

Alight Solutions will mail a letter to you after you have added your dependent to health coverage through ERS or your benefits coordinator or human resources department. The letter will outline the steps in the verification process, confirm which dependents are being verified, list the types of documents they accept as proof of eligibility, and note the due dates to submit documents.

Yes, emails from the "Dependent Verification Center" are legitimate. ERS works with Alight Solutions to conduct dependent eligibility verifications for the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP). Please do not ignore these important notices - send the requested documentation to Alight’s Dependent Verification Center by the required due dates.

It is your responsibility to provide the appropriate proof of eligibility to Alight Solutions by the requested due date. You should respond quickly and provide the requested documents as soon as possible. If you do not respond, or your dependent is found ineligible, ERS will cancel all the coverage your dependent is enrolled in (health, dental, vision and/or dependent term life insurance).

You will need to:

• Read the letters (also called notices) from Alight to confirm which dependents are included in the verification, the documents requested and the date by which copies of the documents should be sent Alight.
• Gather the required documents.
• Send the required documents to Alight by the due date noted in your letter.

If you have questions or are unable to provide the requested documents by the due date, you must contact Alight as soon as possible.

If you enrolled your children in health insurance, yes, you must send documents to prove their eligibility even if you certified them online or with a paper form. You will get a letter from Alight Solutions (if you haven’t already). Please read and respond to the letter; do not ignore it.

If your dependent is found to be eligible, his or her coverage will continue uninterrupted by the verification.

If your dependent is found to be ineligible, ERS will remove him or her from all Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) coverage. You will receive a letter letting you know your dependent is ineligible and that all of your dependent's coverage will be canceled. An ineligible dependent will not be eligible for COBRA.

If you have questions about dependent verification, please contact Alight Solutions’ Dependent Verification Center toll-free at (800) 987-6605 , Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. CT.

You can view your verification status, see or download documents, and find helpful information on Alight Solutions’ Dependent Verification Portal. You will need your login name and password.

• Login name: Your login name is your seven-digit verification ID number from Alight, which is on the bottom of each page of the letter from Alight.
• Password: The temporary password is the last four digits of your Social Security number (SSN) followed by your date of birth in the mmddyyyy format. For example, if your SSN is 123-45-1234 and you were born on January 31, 1968, your temporary password would be 123401311968. You will need to change your password once you log in to the site for the first time.

Dependents found ineligible for the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) will be dropped from all coverage, including health, dental, vision and dependent term life insurance. (You can still list ineligible dependents as beneficiaries of your life insurance policy.) If your dependent is dropped from coverage, individual plans are available from other sources. One place for information about other plans available in your area is https://www.healthcare.gov/. The plans on that site are offered by individual carriers, not by ERS. They are not part of the GBP.

Check the Dependent Eligibility Chart for a list of dependents who are eligible for GBP coverage.

The Texas Legislature decides who is eligible to participate in the GBP. ERS follows the eligibility laws established by the legislature.

A list of acceptable documents will be included in the letter from Alight Solutions.

Copies of legal, government-issued documents are required to show your relationship to the dependent. These might include tax returns, marriage license, birth certificate and/or bank statements, based on the dependent you’re covering (spouse, biological child, adopted child etc.). See the second page of the Dependent Eligibility Chart for examples of required documents for each dependent type.

If you have questions about documentation, please contact Alight.

Texas vital statistics records are available from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

You can find the state and county clerk contact information on the Dependent Verification Portal. You will need to log in to access this information. (Please see the answer to Question 11, above, for information about logging in to the portal.)

If you don't respond or send the required documents by the due date, all of your dependents who are not verified will lose coverage in all Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) plans – health, dental, vision and dependent term life. It is very important to send copies of the required documents to Alight Solutions, by the due date, to ensure coverage for your dependents. Alight will tell you the due date in their letter to you.

If you don’t respond to the letter, Alight will send a second letter. It is your responsibility to make sure your mailing address is up to date with your employing agency/institution, ERS and/or the U.S. Postal Service.

While we understand there may be costs to get, copy and/or send the documents needed for verification, ERS cannot reimburse you.

Please call Alight Solutions toll-free at (800) 987-6605 as soon as possible, so they can add a note to your record to show that you're waiting for vital records.

You can provide the documents to Alight Solutions any of the following ways.

If you’re mailing them or sending them by overnight delivery, please send copies only; do not send the originals. You do not need to send your documents by certified mail.

• Log in to the Dependent Verification Portal to securely upload scans of your documents online. (Please see the answer to Question 11, above, for information about logging in to the portal.)
  or
• Securely fax them, toll-free, to (866) 961-6881.
  or
• Mail them to the following address.
  Dependent Verification Center
  P.O. Box 1403
  Lincolnshire, IL 60069-1403
  or
• Send them by overnight delivery to the following address.
  Dependent Verification Center
  100 Half Day Rd.
  Lincolnshire, IL 60069-1403

No, your documents will not be returned. Send copies only. Do not send originals.

Alight Solutions will scan and store the documents, as they use them to verify that your dependents are eligible for the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP). When they complete the verification, Alight will destroy all the documents at their secure facility.

A government-issued marriage certificate proves the relationship existed at one time and the tax return and bank statement prove you are still in the relationship (that is, that you haven’t divorced).

Before you send copies to Alight, please black out the following.

• Social Security numbers
• Money amounts
• Account numbers

The copies should show the following.

• Member’s and dependent’s names
• Address,
• Type of document (for example, “Account Statement” or “Form 1040”) and
• Dates

When sending federal tax returns, include only the first page and black out all Social Security numbers and money amounts. The letter from Alight Solutions has a sample Form 1040 that shows what to black out.

Yes. ERS worked closely with Alight to make sure the verification process is secure, and that your records are kept safe and private. Alight's contract with ERS doesn't allow them to publish, distribute or sell your or your dependents' information. Alight will use the documents only to verify eligibility for the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP).

You can read Alight's Security and Privacy Policy by logging in to the Dependent Verification Portal. (Please see the answer to Question 11, above, for information about logging in to the portal.) Please call Alight toll-free at (800) 987-6605, Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. CT, if you have questions or concerns.

Yes. Once you drop the ineligible dependent, you cannot re-enroll him or her in a Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) plan until you can provide proof of his or her eligibility.

You can drop the dependent by contacting your benefits coordinator or human resources department (or, for Health and Human Services employees, the HHS Employee Service Center). If you’re retired, contact ERS.

No. Only dependents who lose eligibility within 31 days of a COBRA-qualifying event, such as a child turning age 26, can continue coverage through COBRA. Dependents who are not eligible for the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) do not qualify to continue coverage through COBRA. You will need to find other insurance for these dependents. Please see the answer to Question 12, above, for information about finding other insurance.

If the dependent is now eligible for coverage, yes, you can enroll him or her during your enrollment period or within 31 days of a qualifying life event (QLE). You will need to provide proof-of-eligibility documents directly to ERS.

Please contact us at (877) 275-4377 for additional information.