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Enrollment Process

Retiree and Dependents

To enroll in this plan, you (the retiree) must complete a Retiree Health Plan Application and submit it to the Trust Office within 60 days of the later of your:

  • Retirement effective date; or
  • Loss of eligibility under the Carpenters Health and Security Plan of Western Washington—For Employed Carpenters (the "Employee Health Plan").

Coverage under the Retiree Health Plan begins on the later of your:

  • Retirement effective date; or
  • On the first day of the month immediately following loss of eligibility under the Employee Health Plan.

If, at retirement, you are currently eligible for the Employee Health Plan, you may elect COBRA Continuation Coverage in lieu of the Retiree Health Plan. You must satisfy the following three conditions:

  • You must apply for COBRA as described in "COBRA Continuation Coverage" in the Employee Health Plan booklet.
  • You must complete a Notice To Decline Coverage Agreement at the time COBRA is elected.
  • You must exhaust the maximum coverage period under COBRA before enrolling in the Retiree Health Plan. However, if you become entitled to Medicare while covered under COBRA, you may elect the Retiree Health Plan before the maximum coverage period under COBRA has been exhausted. Your dependents must also elect the Retiree Health Plan at the same time. This exception does not apply if your spouse becomes entitled to Medicare while covered under COBRA. If you do not make the required monthly contributions for COBRA resulting in a loss of COBRA before the maximum period is exhausted, you also forfeit your right to enroll in the Retiree Health Plan.
Key Point

If you do not make the required monthly contributions for COBRA resulting in a loss of COBRA before the maximum period is exhausted, you also forfeit your right to enroll in the Retiree Health Plan.

If you, your spouse, your domestic partner, or your dependent children decline enrollment in the Retiree Health Plan when initially eligible to enroll, you forfeit your right to enroll in this plan unless special enrollment provisions are satisfied (please see "Special Enrollment Rights" on pages 16-17).

You or your dependents cannot enroll or be enrolled in the Retiree Health Plan if you are covered under a Medicare Advantage Plan or Medicare Supplemental Insurance (Medigap).

Key Point

You or your dependents cannot enroll or be enrolled in the Retiree Health Plan if you are covered under a Medicare Advantage Plan or Medicare Supplemental Insurance (Medigap).

Surviving Dependents

If you (the participant) die prior to retirement, your surviving eligible dependents may enroll in the Retiree Health Plan if they satisfy the two eligibility requirements described below and make the required monthly contribution to the Trust Office:

  • The surviving dependents receive a monthly benefit from the Carpenters Retirement Plan of Western Washington or, for the surviving dependents of a retired lather, from the Cement Masons and Plasterers Retirement Plan. This requirement is waived if the surviving spouse is receiving a preretirement death benefit under the Carpenters Retirement Plan of Western Washington and remarries, thereby temporarily losing his or her right to a monthly benefit. This requirement is also waived for the surviving domestic partner who is not entitled to a preretirement death benefit under the Carpenters Retirement Plan of Western Washington.
  • You worked at least 7,500 hours (for which employer contributions were received by the Carpenters Health and Security Trust of Western Washington) during the 120 months immediately preceding your death. This is the only requirement for the surviving dependents of participants who worked under a collective bargaining agreement that did not require contributions to the Carpenters Retirement Plan of Western Washington or the Cement Masons and Plasterers Retirement Plan.

Your dependents cannot enroll or be enrolled in the Retiree Health Plan if they are covered under a Medicare Advantage Plan or a Medicare Supplemental Insurance (Medigap). The surviving dependents are eligible effective the first of the month following the later of:

  • Your death.
  • Loss of eligibility under the Employee Health Plan.

To enroll in this plan, your surviving dependent must complete a Retiree Health Plan Application and submit it to the Trust Office within 60 days of the later of your:

  • Death.
  • Dependents' loss of eligibility under the Employee Health Plan.

If, at the time of your death, your surviving spouse and dependent children are eligible for the Employee Health Plan, they may elect COBRA Continuation Coverage in lieu of the Retiree Health Plan. They must satisfy the following three conditions:

  • They must apply for COBRA as described in "COBRA Continuation Coverage" in the Employee Health Plan booklet.
  • They must complete a Notice To Decline Coverage Agreement at the time COBRA is elected.
  • They must exhaust the maximum coverage period under COBRA before enrolling in the Retiree Health Plan. If they do not make the required monthly contributions for COBRA resulting in a loss of COBRA before the maximum period is exhausted, they also forfeit their right to enroll in the Retiree Health Plan.

COBRA Continuation Coverage is not available to your surviving domestic partner or the children of a domestic partner.

Key Point

If your surviving spouse and dependent children do not make the required monthly contributions for COBRA resulting in a loss of COBRA before the maximum coverage period is exhausted, they also forfeit their right to enroll in the Retiree Health Plan.

If your surviving dependents decline enrollment in the Retiree Health Plan when initially eligible to enroll, they forfeit their right to enroll, unless they satisfy the special enrollment provisions described in "Special Enrollment Rights" on pages 16-17.

If your surviving spouse remarries, his or her eligibility and the eligibility of your dependent children in this plan is unaffected. However, members of your surviving spouse's new family cannot enroll in this plan. Domestic partners also cannot enroll new family members onto this plan.

If you die, someone in your family should notify the Trust Office. When the Trust Office is notified of your death, your life insurance beneficiary will receive the information necessary to submit a life insurance claim (please see "Life Insurance Benefits" on pages 95-98). A surviving spouse or domestic partner who remains enrolled under this plan must also complete a Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation—Surviving Dependent form naming a new life insurance beneficiary.

 

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