my sister doesn't have a job and of course her and her daughter doesn't have health insurance. she asked me to put her daughter on mine. i don't have a problem with this but can i actually do it?
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No, you can't add your niece to your health insurance policy just because her mom doesn't have health insurance. I work on dependent audits and can tell you that you'll almost certainly get caught eventually if you do this. In a dependent audit, you'll be asked for some combination of documents such as a copy of her birth certificate showing you as the parent, your most recent tax return showing that you claim her as a dependent, court documents showing that you are her legal guardian and/or are in the process of adopting her, school registration records showing that she resides at your address, etc. If you can't provide documentation for a dependent audit, best case scenario is that she'll just get dropped from the coverage. Worst case scenario is that they decide to penalize you for claiming an ineligible dependent...you could lose your job, you could be held liable for any medical expenses incurred by her, your company could choose to go after you for the share of premiums they paid on her behalf, etc. It is *not* worth getting caught and losing your job and/or getting prosecuted for fraud over. If your sister doesn't have a job, then your niece could be eligible for either Medicaid or the SCHIP program in your state. Your sister should check into that immediately - that way, your niece will have insurance and you won't get pressured into commiting fraud.
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