Insurance Reimbursment

[grapeape]

the other parent is CO to carry insurance on the children. although, i have been carrying a secondary insurance as well that has benefited both households financially for years.
the other parent pays no more to cover the children on insurance, since a family plan would be necessary for their family anyway.
the same is true for our family.... i feel that this places us on even ground.

when it comes to recalculating child support... their claim is that i voluntarily obtained insurance for the children and that this should not effect  child support... nor should the fact that the other parent would pay no more or less if the children were not on the policy.

my question is this.... based on their assertion...

since we are COed to pay 50% of all out of pocket medical expenses....

can the other parent also claim the benefit of my voluntarily obtained and paid for insurance by claiming half of the insurance reimbursements.
or can the expense of the medical insurance too be a medical expense, since the other parent benefits from it financially?

i am sure SOMEONE has been here.

[Momfortwo]

The split of medical costs is AFTER insurance reimbursement.  Not before.  The other parent gets to claim ALL of the insurance reimbursement.  And your portion of anything the insurance reimbursement did not cover. 

Their claim about you not getting credit for the insurance you provide is a valid one.   When my ex and I first split, he was the one who provided the insurance.  When I got a job, I got one and added the kids.  It didn't matter that I had it.  What mattered is that the kids were already covered.  While they did agree to give me a small credit, it wasn't for what his portion would have been had they given me credit for the whole thing.  I get credit for the whole thing now because when my ex quit his job, he no longer had health insurance.  So now I am the one court ordered to provide it.  And that was the only way I was going to get full credit for the insurance.

[Momfortwo]

The other parent gets to claim ALL of the insurance reimbursement.  And your portion of anything the insurance reimbursement did not cover. 

Let me reword this:

The parent who paid for the doctor's visit/medical expenses is the one who gets to claim all of the insurance reimbursement. 

In other words, if your ex took the kids to the doctor and paid for it and the insurance sent you the reimbursement, you need to give all of it to her.  And if there were any costs left over after both your insurance and her insurance reimbursed her, you would have to pay her your portion of the unreimbursed cost.   

And if you refuse to give her the insurance reimbursement, she can take you to court and probably have all of her legal expenses paid by you since it was your actions that led to the expense. 

[MixedBag]

I am in a similar boat, and will share what past judges have done as my experience.

I was active duty military and I believe our initial decree stated "The mother shall provide health care through the United States Air Force."  That meant 100% coverage for health (no cost to me), and an extra dental policy of I believe it was a whopping $20 to cover the family -- military health benefits rock!

Of course over the years, I retired....was married to EX#3.  That meant Tri-Care would be reduced to Standard ($150/year deductible per person/$300 per family) OR I could elect to pay back to Tri-Care Prime....blah blah blah.

WE (EX#3 and I) chose to go with his (new job) employer's plan because it included dental AND health, and would cost as much as a supplement plus family dental after retirement.

About the same time EX#2 picked up covering our son.  IMHO on one side -- NO NEED, I had him covered very well.  EX#2 had NO INCREASE in cost because he already increased his plan from individual to family due to two other children -- son was third one added (but middle child in age).

FF to court.

Judge took my costs of carrying health insurance (even though step-dad's employer was who owned the policy) and divided it by the number of people it covered......Came up with a number.

Judge took dad/EX#2's cost of carrying health insurance and did the same thing.

Then plugged it into the child support work sheet as an expense.....and then credited my side with my total expense of what I had and came up with an amount of CS I should pay.

I believe that the two parents should cover the child as much as possible -- and yes, at one point, some of the kids had three health insuance coverages between Mom, Dad, step-mom, and step-dad.   

And yes, when my CS obligation went UP because Dad carried insurance -- that didn't set too well with me.....but I rolled with the punches.....kept telling myself that this will end soon enough and THEN .....

How is stuff handled?

I personally make sure that ALL insurances are provided to the doctor (or whoever else needs it) -- do not rely on the other parent to do this.

THEN I make sure that ALL insurances have processed the claim.....and THEN ask "What's left over?"

Then it's back to the decree -- in two cases "uninsured medical expenses were split 50/50", then that turned into "50/50 after $250 annual spent by CP"

In another case it was "CP must spend $300, THEN according to income ratio" which was 90/10.    And yes initially, I think think the deductibe wasn't there and the NCP covered 90/10.....

If the CP paid the bill in full and THEN filed with all the insurances, then I agree -- the insurance reimbursement goes to the CP, and then the balance is what's left over.