Uncovered medical expenses

[AZFatherofFive]

My case # DR2000-014206 in Phoenix AZ Maricopa County. I have an expedited services conference on 02.14.06. The X claims that I am not meeting my obligation to pay for uncovered medical expenses.

Is there some set of rules regarding how that should happen? Does she have a duty to be timely in submitting her claims to me? Do I have a duty to respond in a timely manner? I want to take of business. However, if she never sends the bill, how can I do that?

Is it reasonable for me to expect the X to show that the insurance company declined coverage? That the bill is, in fact, for my child? Does she have a duty to use the insurance properly before sending me the claim? Is there a statute of limitations on claims?

[dipper]

Is any of this covered in your parenting plan?

My ex and I rarely had problems with this.  I sent receipts or copies of bills as I got them...and we split them.   On occasion, he took awhile to pay, but overall that went okay.  Now, the girls are under state insurance, so there are no expenses to split.

However, my dh was dragged into court several times for minimal amounts of money.   I was amazed - she didnt send dh copies of anything...she would write down demands for money on a piece of paper and dh was made to pay it.  After we married, we sent her a letter stating that from there on out, nothing would be paid until he received a copy of the bill or receipt and he would pay within 30 days.
 

[Caligirl2001]

My husbands ex pulled this one on him. She had never sent him any bills for 4 years, then took him to court claiming he had failed to pay his 1/2 of uninsured medical and wanted $over $1500. Plus, she had signed a satisfaction in 1999 stating that everything through that date was paid, yet when she showed up in court, she tried to bring bills from 1996-1999. The judge threw those out and gave her 7 days to provide bills from after the satisfaction was signed and ruled that she had no evidence that she had ever sent them, so my husband was not guilty of "contempt of court" (that is a favorite phrase for his ex)

When he brought the stack of bills home ( 4" thick) and I went through them, she had in some cases triplicates of each bill in there (copy of the receipt from the office visit, copies of the insurance statement and copies of statements from the Dr's office when she didn't pay right away. We shaved it down to less than $300 in actual bills and proved that she never sent them to him in the first place.

My suggestion would be to do what we did. We asked the judge to order that she had 60 days after incurring the expense to provide an unaltered copy of the bill and proof that she paid it ( such as the receipt from the dr's office showing a check number) and my husband had 60 days after receiving it to pay it. If she did not provide the bill within 60 days, she lost the right to reimbursement.  It is sad that you have to get so specific, but in cases like this, you do.

[AZFatherofFive]

To make a long story short, there is no "parenting plan". After a dispute assessment done in April 2001, unsupervised and graduated reunification was authourized. Each therapist assigned to monitor this process was amenable to "fee for service" due to my financial limitations. Once they had visited w/mother, they voided their agreement with me and declared a requirement for a large retainer. The Court has ordered that until mother and I agree on a therapist, reunification will not happen. What makes the Court think she will agree to anything I propose is beyond my comprehension. Disagreement is the crux of our divorce. I have resigned myself to the "loss" of my children.

That does not mean I won't take care of my obligations to them. Unless someone can point to some rules or policies, I will proffer a list of what I feel to be reasonable expectations to the conference officer. Those expectations will include the following:

Was the insurance used properly?
Is the claim for one of my children?
How old is the claim?

We were unable to control our finances as a team effort. We actually declared bankruptcy twice in a ten year period. She isn't on my "team" any longer. Thus, she has no say in how I run my finances any longer.

I pay $750.00 a month in support. I carry medical, dental, and vision insurance for my kids. If she cannot establish the "claim" is for my child, that the insurance was used properly, and if she cannot establish this claim within 30 days from the date of service, she will not receive one red cent from me.

[AZFatherofFive]

I answered another response to this so I won't duplicate here. I had thought there might some "guidelines" regarding this matter. It is becoming more clear that there aren't any. If I can't get the conference officer to plagerize my suggestions into his recommendations, I will motion the Court to adopt them. Thanks for responding!