Step mom and health insurance

[walknotrun]

Another question -

Can a step mom be court ordered to add her step child to her health insurance when that's the health insurance available to her DH?  It's not free for me, so it's not like it's an absolutely fantastic deal to do that.  I just do not want to be ordered to add the kid when we only have 1 more year to go with support.

Thanks!

[Sherry1]

so then you might be obligated to cover the child or your DH find a private carrier, which probably would cost more than your covering the child.  Does BM have insurance?

[walknotrun]

Yes, she has insurance through her work and we have been paying 1/2 of her payroll deductions per month.

[msjanbo]

By law,if a parent must provide health insurance coverage for their child, then the step kids would automatically be insured under the DAD who is automatically insured thru the stepmom (spouse).  Unless the biological parent is taking the insurance, you cannot force the step-parent (non relative) to insure the children.  The only exception to this would be that the step-parent has legally adopted the kids.  

Ins companies, for legal reasons, will NOT insure non-relatives.   Spouses will be automatically insured under the other spouse's plan.  Then, when the spouse is added, any children they have will automatically be covered under "them" - the parent of the children in question, not the step-parent.

Hope this helps.  I did benefits at my last job and this gets tricky for ppl to understand, but it's really quite simple.

:)

[walknotrun]

But, Dad is on my insurance.  So, I take it that means I can be forced to put her on mine even though she's already covered under her mother's?

Here's the kicker - in our state, we're only obligated to support the kid until 18.  But, with our health insurance, the kid stays on until age 19 unless a full-time student and then it can go until age 22-25.  SO, that means we'd have to keep her on our insurance LONGER than we're obligated to support her.  

How many times does a judge actually force the issue when the Mom is already covered?

AND, my insurance deduction is going to go way up in January...

[msjanbo]

Sorry for late response - haven't been online lately.

YES - you can be forced to put your SD on your insurance.    PBFH is not obligated, under what I'm assuming is a court order - to pay to cover your SD.  If that's already been agreed upon between DH and PBFH that DH would cover keep medical insurance on SD - you are on the hook - plain and simple.

If your DH's court order states you are only obligated to support the SD until 18 - then YOU - as policy holder, have the right to TERMINATE the SD's coverage when she reaches 18.  Your SD would then have the option of continuing on under COBRA (for 18 months, 9 in some circumstances), as long as your SD pays the monthly premium.  There is no law, in any state, thru any insurance carrier - where you are FORCED to continue coverage to a certain age.  Insurance is voluntary.  Even more so - in your case - with a court order stating that YOUR obligation (ok, DH's) stops at 18 - you have every right to enforce that.

I would assume that any judge would FORCE your DH to put SD on your policy, IF there's a court order in place.  It's really a no-win situation for you.  PBFH is not obligated to pay for it, but luckily it seems, she has been.

GL

[flewwellin]

I don't think that you can be ordererd to provide for your husband's child.  Good luck

[MixedBag]

Step-mom or step-dad can not be forced to cover a step-child by a court.

DAD and MOM can be forced to carry insurance on the child by a court.

Insurance rules usually say that a step-mom/step-dad can't include the step-child because the child is not hers/his.

Two different things are being discussed.....and the question was whether or not the court can order a step-mom/step-dad -- and that answer is no.

However, a step-mom usually covers the spouse (in this case the husband), and THEN the insurance company will allow the addition of the child (who is a step-child to the policy holder).

Financially, when a parent is ordered to carry the insurance, sometimes it is cheaper for that household to place the child under the step-parent's policy -- but that can only happen if husband and wife are both on the policy -- then the "non-bio kids to the policy holder" can be added.

[walknotrun]

So, then even though I, as the step-mom cover the dad, I cannot be COURT ordered to cover the step-child?  Our lawyer basically has told us that only if I had insurance that would be free to have the child on it, then I might have to cover the child.  But, since it isn't, then I shouldn't have to cover the kid.

[stepmomandmom]

It's so weird seeing the EXACT opposite of what I was dealing with.  I'm the stepmom whose dh was ordered to carry insurance for his daughter.  So, since I was providing insurance for the family, I added stepdaughter to my policy.  Boy did BM blow up when she found out about that.  

She got so upset that she filed a claim with the insurance commissioners office claiming that I had committed insurance fraud.  

Well, they haven't come to take me to jail yet.