123 removed from city's health rolls.

Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos

WORCESTER - The city has been able to verify that nearly 90 percent of the dependents covered under the city's health insurance plans are eligible for such coverage.

Kathleen G. Johnson, acting director of the city's Human Resources Department, said the dependent audit, which was initiated in early January at the request of the City Council, has led to the removal of 123 spouses and dependents from city health plans.

The city has 3,600 employees enrolled in conventional family health insurance plans, with about 7,100 spouses and dependents covered as well.

Some city councilors, led by Councilor-at-Large Michael J. Germain, wanted a dependent audit done to weed out those who are no longer eligible for health insurance coverage.

Mr. Germain and others argued that doing that would lower the city's health insurance costs, possibly by at least $2 million. Mr. Germain wants to use the savings generated by the audit to pay for at least 25 percent of municipal retirees' Medicare Part B costs.

Ms. Johnson said the audit, which was done for the city by its health insurance adviser, Group Benefits Strategies, has been very successful in educating employees on allowable enrollment criteria.

Of the 7,100 spouses/dependents on conventional family health plans, she said, 89.5 percent have been confirmed as being eligible.

Only 1.7 percent, or 123 dependents (44 spouses, 53 over-19 students and 26 under-19/disabled dependents) were removed voluntarily or because of ineligibility, she added.

Ms. Johnson said the remaining 8.8 percent of the dependents either did not respond to the audit or failed to provide complete information.

"I anticipate that over the next two weeks, coinciding with the beginning of...