Insurance and Guardianship

[ajinaz]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AZ

My wife has sole legal guardianship of her adult disabled brother as a result of his mother passing. We claim him as a dependent. He receives AHCCCS but they have cut dental. When I tried to enroll him on my work dental plan they said that I had to have court papers indicating that I was his legal guardian. When we went through the process we were under the impression that you could only have one legal guardian (perhaps our stupidity) so we put my wife down since it is her brother. Are they allowed to exclude him from my insurance because I am not listed? Do I need to now go change his guardianship to me which will be a pain in the butt since my wife must constantly show herself as guardian whenever she takes him to his doctor appointments and programs. Can there be more than one legal guardian?

Thanks for reading all of this and I hope it makes sense.

 

[cbg]

They not only are allowed to exclude him from your insurance if you are not listed as his guardian, they MUST exclude him from your insurance if you are not listed as his guardian. I am not aware of any reason you cannot both be so listed, but if this is your insurance through your employer, your wife is not the insured, you are. She is a dependent. Therefore, unless your plan document specifically and in so many words lists "legal wards of your dependents" as eligible family members, YOU have to be his guardian or there is no chance of him being covered, and it's not 100% certain that he'll be eligible even if you are. It will depend on what the plan document says with regards to eligible family members.