Question regarding insurance coverage?
First does anyone know if "dental insurance coverage" for divorced kids a requirement or highly recommended by the court?
Here is the background
SS15 ALWAYS had dental insurance Through BM's work. DH and BM Equally split the cost. Well BM changed jobs and either the new job does not have dental insurance or BM Chose not to get it. Now we knew BM changed jobs last winter BUT she never told us she no longer has dental insurance for SS. We only just now found out there is no dental insurance for SS.
Now DH has great dental insurance and so do I and would be happy to put SS on our insurance but BM refuses. What reasons could BM possibly have to want to split the cost of uncovered dental bills rather than use DH insurance? Also more important do you think the family court would react/side with this?
Does BM have control over all
Does BM have control over all medical decisions? I don't honestly see how she can "refuse" to want to allow him to be covered by dental insurance.. what is her reason?
I would also look at your DH's CO to see whether medical insurance was spelled out to include dental or not.. and you could see if there is any precedent in your state for it to be required.
My assumption is that if you went to court.. that they would agree that dental insurance would be iimportant and that they would be fine with your DH providing it if BM could not any longer.. and the same terms on splitting "uncovered" costs would apply to her in those cases.
Exactly! I always feel she’s up to something sneaky but what?
BM has control over medical BUT DH is required to split all uncovered costs. I don't see even if legally BM controls medical the family court would side with her for no dental insurance. Dental bills can be Outrageous non Necessary expense so why would the court side with her since DH is required to pay half? I just looking for feedback from everyone. Also I have NO clue why she refuses.
BM can use the insurance you provide, or not.
Don't pay her a cent. Pay the Dental office. Get the full bill, and submit for reimbursement. Since BM refused to use the insurance, you keep the money. If she cries, deduct her half of the premiums to cover the Skid from any reimbursement you receive from insurance before you send her half. But... loose lips sink ships so do not share any information with her on this at all. If she digs in and figures it out or initiates a court action, adjust accordingly. Make her do the leg work.
I would add the kid to the
I would add the kid to the insurance and if presented with a bill, give the insurance info to the dentist office "Oh, SS does have dental insurance - didn't you know?" Then pay 1/2 of whatever is left directly to the dentist office.
Why let her control and
Why let her control and decide this? Add the kid and give the dentist the updated insurance info. It's like if DH were to add SS to car insurance, she can't stop him, and the kid gets a card and is covered.
Ok next question
If DH went ahead and put SS on his insurance how do we get BM to split the year cost of having SS on our insurance? BM is not just going to hand over her share.
If she was not required to
If she was not required to cover dental.. then there is probably NO way you would get reimbursement for the dental premiums that your DH pays. Besides.. how much could it possibly be more a month.. 10-20 bucks difference between his cost now and adding her? He wants to "nickel and dime" it by asking for 5-10 bucks a month?
Having her on dental insurance is a benefit to HIM.. his half of uncovered costs is very likely to save him more than that.
Maybe if he offered to put her on his insurance "at his cost" and just split any uncovered expenses BM would be less resistance.
Getting reimbursement is not a hill to die on here... not for the premiums.
Probably not, but honestly it
Probably not, but honestly it would be cheaper for him in the long run. We carried Spawn on our insurance and never got support from Meth Mouth, for us it was piece of mind knowing we had Spawn covered and wouldn't have to pay a fortune for medical or dental.
DH could request a Court ammendment.
That is what ultimately happened with we were in Court on this and any number of other skid related support topics over the 16yrs we lived under a CO. That ended nearly 12 years ago. Blessedly.
The Judge ruled that the spermidiot was required to provide medical/dental/vision insuance. He cried poor mouth and did not provide it. So, his CS went up to cover the increase in my premiums to cover SS. Who was covered from the second his mom and I married the week before he turned 2yo.
My dental insurance is a
My dental insurance is a family plan that costs me roughly $25 per paycheck, so $650 a year. That's a cost I'm willing to allow household funds to eat to not have to take BM back to court, deal with her BS, etc. Unless you and DH are going to go broke because BM isn't paying half, I'd honestly just pay it and not ask for reimbursement. It's not fair, but it's also likely not to get rectified without dragging BM back to court (if she won't pay willingly).
ETA: Talk to the insurance company. Even if BM doesn't use it at the appointment, your DH should be able to file it after the fact for reimbursement. That may be the way he gets his "half" back, or at least limits how much his half will cost.
We never got a penny of the SpermClan's half of uncovered Skid
medical expenses. Even though it was clearly ordered in the CO that each party is responsible for half of any health expenses (Medical, Dental, Vision, Rx) not covered by insurance.
We invoice them twice a year by sending them the scanned receipt pdf and a spreadsheet showing their growing balance due to non payment. We bill them at the IRS penalty and interest rates for late payment of taxes.
They owed us about $4K (broken arm, various co-pays, Rx costs, two broken front teeth from eating a curb while racing his bike with the neighborhood kids, etc...).
With penalties and interest, they are over $10K at this point. We attempted to address it several times over the years, most recently in court during the last hearing before SS aged out from under the CO, but the moron in the idiot black Harry Potter robes cowarded out and told us to sue them in small claims court and would not order them to comply with that stipulation that was clearly ordered in the CO by HIM! Have I mentioned that I would not piss on most family court Judges if they were on fire?
Our attorney advised to continue to bill them regularly so we can sue the shit out of them any time the spirit moves us. So, DW sends it out delivery confirmation twice a year. Occassionally SpermGrandHag will whine about it and ask when we will forgive and forget.
Ummm. Nope. Not happenin. They don't get to be dirtbags for the Skid's entire childhood and then expect us to forgive a notable debt they owe us by playing the 'be nice to us' card. We likely will never sue them. However, continuing to rub their noses in their stench as shitty people does give some small sense of satisfaction.
The Skid is all over the facts on them. Even as he approaches 30 he is crystal clear on their attempts to try to weasle money out of him as an adult after spending 16+ years trying to weasle money out of his mom and I while the CO was active. There is no trust in their direction. They have never earned it.
Dental and eye insurance is
Dental and eye insurance is pretty cheap and considers what braces cost and contacts, seems a minor cost to eliminate a potential financial drain. BM is just being a _______ No judge is going to deny a child insurance coverage by a parent that is offering. It's a control thing and she won't control this.
BM has no say over you/DH adding qualified beneficiaries to your
medical insurance. She can use it or not.
Period! DOT!
Which leaves you to submit the receipts and get the reimbursement. You might as well get some return on the extra premiums you pay to cover the SKid. BM's stupidity is on her. Enjoy the extra dinner out occassionally.
Insurance can be a never ending hill to climb in the CO/Blended Family world. Though the Spermidiot was required to provide it, he did not for more than 12 of the 16 years we lived under the CO. I provided it for my family including SS. The Judge did force the dumbass to pay the delta between EE+Spouse and EE+Family which was $15/mo. So, his CS went up from $110/mo to $133/mo after that court date. More than half of the CS increase was so he cold be a deadbeat on providing insurance. That pissed me off to no end. Though regardless, I would have covered SS even if the dipshitiot had complied with the COd requirement for him to cover SS.
Meanwhile.... 12 years later and back in court.... dipshitiot attempted to get his CS lowered when he finally did provide insurance for SS. One of my occassional though rare warm fuzzy feelings toward a family law Judge was when the Judge tossed the spermidiot's claim and insurance document at him commenting that the insurance was inadequate and dipshitiot would cover SS on that policy and continue to pay for SS's share of my high quality policy premium.
We always covered SS on medical and dental through our employers.
A side note. I have made concerted effort my entire adult life to work for top notch companies in order to have top tier medical benefits. Without insurance, my out of pocket costs just for my maintenance meds would be $3500/mo or more. I am extremely healthy ... other than my auto immune condition(s). My SS was raised with a T-1 diabetic dad who is very diligent about managing his health. A number of family members (SpermClan and IL Clan) have not been and he has seen the difference.
This is an important topic for me.
Parents who remain clueless to their insurance coverages. clueless to how insurance works, and who avoid covering their kids need a quick kick in the butt IMHO. For those who cannot afford, there are a number of programs that can be engaged to make it happen.
During stint between companies I engaged the ACA Markeplace for coverage. That coverage for my DW and I was $1300/mo which was reduced to $300/mo due to our only income being unemployement. We were on it for 3mos. As soon as I started with my then new company we immediately withdrew from coverage with the ACA Marketplace. When we filed taxes the next year we did repay the discount that was applied off of the $1300/mo ACA premium while we were unemployed. I was very relieved to have that coverage.
SS was already launched and in his mid 20s at that time. Serving in the military he has good medical benefits. Which is a great comfort to his mom and I.
BM needs to extricate her head from her own butt.
Ask bm WHY she does NOT want
Ask bm WHY she does NOT want her child covered.
Write her answer down word for word
This should be a doozy
Get it on tape or in a text
Get her reasons on a tape/ voicemail or a text and print it out for the lawyer.
I think if she refuses to
I think if she refuses to agree to dental insurance, you should get something added to the agreement that your DH is only liable for his portion of the cost of procedures with the dental insurance. That is figure out how much he would have paid for the procedure if the child was covered and he pays half of that cost, not half of the full cost...and BM has to cover the difference.
Is SS's dentist in your DH's
Is SS's dentist in your DH's dental plan? If he/she is, I can't think of any reason for BM to object to him adding SS to his insurance, other than not wanting to pay half of the premiums. If SS would have to switch dentists, I can see her objection.
you can still go to an out of
you can still go to an out of network dentist.. it just usually is less reimbursement..
Yep. And some opposition parents do this just to be a PITA
to the providing the insurance.
If I were an NCP and the CP rejected to use a network praticioner, I would only reimburse the CP half of the in network copay.
No one' job is to facilitate or pay for stupidity from the opposition.
If the CP was that worked up about the difference I reimbursed between their OONW choice and one of the large number of INW choices, that is on them and they could take it to court. They would be met with a pile of policy verbiage, etc... clearly showing that they, the opposition, chose the more expensive route.
If the Judge ordered that I pay them for half of OONW costs, I would smile in court, leave at the end of the hearing, and not do it.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Until I was on the stand and the Judge was about to hold me in contempt. Then I would pay it in a big bag of pennies.
Pissing off idiots could be a notable hobby for me.
Not in the CO? Not required.
Not in the CO? Not required.