Eligibility & enrolment

You are eligible to participate in the Concordia Dental Plan if you are:

• a full-time, permanent employee; and
• a member of an eligible employee group.

Your spouse and dependent children are also eligible.

You have 4 categories of coverage to choose from:

1. Single (you alone)
2. Couple (you and your spouse)
3. Single parent (you and your dependent children)
4. Couple with children (you, your spouse and dependent children)

The category you choose must be the same as the category chosen under the Health Plan, unless:

• you and/or your eligible dependents are covered under your spouse’s health or dental plan or as a pensioner from a prior employer; in this case, you must provide written proof of duplicate coverage; or
• you reside in Québec and your oldest child is under age 10 and entitled to dental care coverage under the province’s Medicare program.

The cost of coverage varies by category of coverage. If you reside in Québec, you may want to consider how your choice of coverage will affect the taxation of your benefits.

You enrol when you first become eligible. Typically, this is when you are hired.

If you have any eligible dependents, they must be enroled at the same time you become eligible for coverage.

However, if you obtain your first eligible dependent only after you have already joined the plan, you must enrol that dependent within 31 days of the date he or she first becomes eligible for coverage, that is, the day on which:

• you are married or complete a sworn Qualification of Partner as Spouse;
• your dependent child is born or adopted; or
• your oldest dependent child is no longer entitled to dental care coverage under the province’s Medicare program (currently offered to children in Québec who are under age 10).

All subsequent eligible dependent children will automatically be covered.

If you do not enrol your eligible dependents when they are first eligible, you cannot enroll them later unless the sole reason for not insuring them is that they are already insured under another plan elsewhere.

You will have 90 days following your date of hire at Concordia to enrol yourself and your eligible dependents in the Dental Plan. If you do not enrol within this time frame and are not covered under your spouse’s plan, you (and/or your dependents) will be considered as “late entrants”. Late entrants who wish to enrol at a later date will be subject to the following conditions:

• coverage will only begin on January 1 following the benefit year in which you enrol; and
• benefits during the first year of coverage will be limited to $250 per insured person.

Complete an enrolment form and return it to Benefits Services

If you were employed before the Dental Plan became effective for your employee group, special transitional enrolment rules and procedures may apply.

Please contact Benefits Services for details.

• For you:
  On the date your employment begins.
• For your eligible dependents:
  On the date your employment begins or on the date you enrol them for coverage, whichever is later.

Once enrolled in the Concordia Dental Plan, you and your eligible dependents will not be allowed to opt out at a later date, unless you obtain duplicate coverage elsewhere.

If you already have coverage under a dental plan where your spouse works, you may choose not to participate in the Concordia Dental Plan. If so, you must provide satisfactory proof of duplicate coverage.

You may join the University’s plan later but only provided you submit your request for coverage to Benefits Services within 31 days after coverage under your spouse’s dental plan ends.

Currently, if you do not apply for dental care coverage within 31 day period, you cannot enrol in the Concordia Dental Plan. This rule was chnaged on January 1, 2002. As a result of the new rule, if you are not currently participating, in the plan but would like to enrol, you may contact Benefit Services to arrange for your coverage to start next January. If you wait until next ear to enrol, your coverage will take effect only on january 1, 2004.