I am in the process of drafting a custody consent order. We have a temporary custody order currently in place, but no child support order. Regarding the minor’s health insurance and medical expenses: she is currently covered by my husband’s health insurance plan through his work. It’s an HSA (I believe) where he puts a certain amount each month into the account, from which we draw for all family members’ medical expenses. Is there a standard approach to how the child’s expenses can be divided between myself and her father, the non-custodial parent? I’m having difficulty because there isn’t a monthly premium per se, but our family deductible is $6000/yr. Additionally, I’m a stay-at-home-mom and the non-custodial parent is arguing that she should have stayed on Medicaid. My understanding was that since I’ve remarried and I no longer meet requirements for Medicaid, combined with the fact that I prefer she see the physicians my other three children see (who don’t accept Medicaid), that adding her to my husband’s plan was the appropriate course of action.
You can add your child to your husband’s plan and still use the amount of that monthly premium that is attributable to the child at issue as your health insurance cost in the child support worksheet. Whatever amount your husband is paying per month can be divided by the total amount of people covered by the plan and that amount would be the health insurance cost to you. For example, if the monthly payments are $500 and there are 6 people covered including the child at issue, then the portion attributable to that child would be $83.33/month (500/6).
All uninsured/unreimbursed healthcare expenses for that child are divided according to the percentage of combined monthly gross income attributable to each parent. The percentages are automatically determined in the child support worksheet. If your monthly gross income is $0, then you would have a 0% obligation to pay for that child’s uninsured/unreimbursed healthcare expenses.
Anna Ayscue
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest
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