Northwest Carpenters Health and Security Plan

Surviving Dependents 

If you die, your surviving eligible dependents may run out your dollar bank eligibility until the dollar bank is exhausted. After the dollar bank is exhausted, your surviving eligible dependents my elect COBRA continuation coverage described above or enroll in Retiree Coverage if they satisfy the two eligibility requirements described below and make the required monthly contribution to the plan:

  • The surviving dependents receive a monthly benefit from the Northwest Carpenters Retirement Plan, the Oregon-Washington Carpenters-Employers Pension Trust Fund, the Washington, Idaho, Montana, Carpenters-Employers Retirement Plan, or the Cement Masons and Plasterers Retirement Plan. This requirement is waived if the surviving spouse is receiving a preretirement death benefit under the Northwest Carpenters Retirement Plan and remarries, thereby temporarily losing his or her right to a monthly benefit.
  • You worked at least 7,500 hours (for which employer contributions were received by the Northwest Carpenters Health and Security Plan or the Oregon-Washington Carpenters-Employers Health and Welfare Plan) 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 Northwest Carpenters Retirement Plan, the Oregon-Washington Carpenters-Employers Pension Trust Fund, the Washington, Idaho, Montana, Carpenters-Employers Retirement Plan, or the Cement Masons and Plasterers Retirement Plan.

To apply for Retiree Coverage, your surviving dependent must complete a Retiree Coverage Application and submit it to Carpenters Trusts within 60 days of the later of your:

  • Death; or
  • Dependents’ loss of dollar bank eligibility or COBRA.

Coverage begins on the first of the month following the later of:

  • Your death; or
  • Loss of dollar bank eligibility or COBRA.

If, at the time of your death, your surviving spouse and dependent children have dollar bank eligibility, they may elect COBRA Coverage in lieu of Retiree Coverage. If they do not make the required monthly contributions for COBRA resulting in a loss of COBRA, they also forfeit their right to enroll in Retiree Coverage.

If your surviving dependents decline enrollment in Retiree Coverage when initially eligible to enroll, they forfeit their right to enroll. However, if a surviving dependent has other employer-based group health coverage, the surviving dependent may enroll in Retiree Coverage when their other group health coverage ends, provided there is no gap in coverage.

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.

Your dependents cannot enroll or be enrolled in Retiree Coverage if they are covered under a Medicare Advantage Plan or a Medicare Supplemental Insurance (Medigap).

If you die, someone in your family should notify Carpenters Trusts. When Carpenters Trusts 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). A surviving spouse who remains enrolled under this plan must also complete a Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation – Surviving Dependent form naming a new life insurance beneficiary.

Last Updated: 04/25/2023