Updated, Combined Death Event Now Available Online
The latest enhancement to the NRECA Employee Benefits website is an updated death event. This event notifies NRECA and provides information needed to process benefits when a participant or dependent has died. Instead of two different events for reporting participant and dependent deaths, there is now a single, consolidated experience. Benefits administrators (BA) will find this combined event under Employee Administration > Death.
Users will be provided guidance for the following:
- Enter the event date, cause of death and whether it is work related or not for a participant
- Enter the event date, cause of death for a dependent
- Review participant information (i.e., contacts and dependents)
- Review group and retirement benefits and beneficiary information
We’ve incorporated many of the features you are familiar with in other redesigned employee administration events, such as:
- Enhancing the look and feel, which makes the process easier to use
- Improving the workflow by combining the process for reporting the death of an employee and participant into a single activity
- Ability to save your work in progress
- Providing notification via Message Center before event processing automatically completes
Reminders
Benefits administrators should keep these reminders in mind when processing a death:
- Once a participant’s death has been submitted, their employment and benefit status changes. For this reason, BAs should process the death of a dependent prior to processing the death of a participant in the rare event that both are being submitted at the same time.
- A “Notice of Death” form may be completed by the BA and submitted to NRECA in the event of the death of an insured or an insured’s dependent. However, if the death event is completed by the BA on the Employee Benefits website, the hard copy form is not required. Once this form is received by NRECA, the appropriate claim and benefit option forms, when applicable, will be sent to the BA or directly to the beneficiary, if not sent previously.
- Generally, whoever is named on a participant’s most recent beneficiary form will receive the benefit payments—regardless of what the participant’s divorce decree, will or living trust papers might indicate. If no beneficiaries are named, the plan documents designate how benefits will be paid. Beneficiaries cannot be changed after the death of a participant.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the Member Contact Center at 866.673.2299 or contactcenter@nreca.coop. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, 7 am until 7 pm, Central time.