Dependents
Eligible dependents include:
- Your legal spouse (if your spouse resides outside of the country, he or she may still be eligible for benefits)
- Your children through the last day of the month in which they turn age 26, regardless of their student, marital or employment status
- Your child of any age who relies on you for at least 51% of his or her support due to a physical or mental disability. Eligibility will continue if you provide proof of the disability within 30 days after the child reaches the age at which coverage would otherwise end. Coverage will then remain in effect as long as the disability continues and you maintain dependent coverage under the Plan. If you are a newly hired employee with a child who relies on you for at least 51% of his or her support due to a physical or mental disability, you must attest that the dependent was disabled prior to having reached age 26.
- Your domestic partner. Note: registered domestic partnerships are not subject to any requirements for proof of relationship or waiting periods applied to domestic partnerships that are not also applied to marriages.
- For purposes of Stryker's benefit plans, a domestic partnership is defined as:
OR
- A domestic partnership that meets all of the following requirements for the immediately preceding 12 months:
- Is at least age 18 and mentally competent to enter into a legal contract when the domestic partnership began.
- Is your sole domestic partner in a committed relationship and intends to remain so indefinitely.
- Has not had another domestic partner within the prior 12 months.
- Has not been a party to a divorce or annulment proceeding in at least 12 months.
- Is not related to you in a way that would prohibit a legal marriage.
- Is not legally married to anyone else, and any prior marriages have been dissolved through death, divorce or nullity.
- Shares a household with you that is the primary residence of both of you (although you may live apart for reasons of education, healthcare, work, or military service).
- Shares joint responsibility with you for each other's basic living expenses incurred during the domestic partnership.
For purposes of determining eligibility under the Stryker Corporation Welfare Benefits Plan, the term "child" means your (or your spouse's or domestic partner's) child who is under age 26, including a natural child, a stepchild, a foster child, a legally adopted child, a child placed for adoption, or a child for whom you have been appointed legal guardianship.
A child who does not fall within this definition of "child" is not eligible for coverage even if you can claim the child as your dependent for federal income tax purposes.
A newly-eligible child, spouse or domestic partner will be covered from the date of birth, adoption, placement for adoption, foster agreement date, guardianship, marriage or domestic partnership as defined above if properly enrolled via the Benefits Enrollment Site at http://enroll.stryker.com, or by contacting your Benefits representative and completing an enrollment form within 30 days of the life event (including the date of the event). You also must provide dependent documentation to your Benefits representative within 30 days of the life event.
If you fail to enroll your newly eligible child, spouse or domestic partner within this 30-day period (or provide dependent documentation to your Benefits representative within 30 days of the life event), you may still be able to enroll them for coverage, as long as you do so within 120 days of the life event. (In specific locations, HMO and other fully insured plans are offered, which are administered by the insurance carriers. These carriers may not always agree to the extension of benefits for those enrolling after 30 days of their hire date. Please contact your Benefits representative for more information.) Coverage will be effective from the date of birth, adoption, placement for adoption, foster care agreement, legal guardianship date, or the date of the marriage or domestic partnership as defined above; however, in this situation you will have to pay for their coverage on a post-tax basis retroactive to the date of the event through the remainder of the plan year in which you properly completed the enrollment. Coverage will be denied for any enrollment requests made more than 120 days after the qualifying life event and you will have to wait until the next annual enrollment period to enroll your child, spouse or domestic partner for healthcare coverage, unless you experience another life event that would permit you to enroll them prior to that time.
If satisfactory proof of eligibility is not provided within the applicable annual enrollment, new hire, or qualifying life event enrollment period, the dependent will not be eligible for coverage under the plan.
If failure to enroll within this timeframe is due to circumstances beyond your control, please submit an appeal for further consideration as instructed in the Medical and Rx claims procedures, Dental or Vision section.
If both you and your spouse, domestic partner or dependent work for Stryker, you may not be covered under the plan both as an employee and a dependent, nor may you be covered under any other Stryker-sponsored plan as a dependent if you are enrolled in this plan. Any eligible children of two Stryker employees may be covered as dependents by only one parent.
The eligibility requirements and age limitations discussed in this "Eligibility" section apply to the following plans:
- UnitedHealthcare PPO and HSA plans
- UnitedHealthcare Out-of-Area plan
- UnitedHealthcare/OptumRx prescription drug plan
- Delta dental plan
- EyeMed vision plan
HMOs and other insured medical plans may have eligibility requirements which are different than those outlined in this booklet. If you are enrolled in a medical plan option other than the UnitedHealthcare PPOs, HSAs, or Out-of-Area plan, see the supplemental summary plan description for the applicable plan in the Location-based provisions section or contact your Benefits representative for specific information regarding eligibility requirements.