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Ex won't use health insurance

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ziphash

Member
My ex has custody of our 8 yr. old daughter. I am not required to keep health insurance on her but do have it for her. My ex is required to pay the first $100 of medical expenses each year. I am responsible for everything after that.

Last Tuesday, my ex called my wife to say that she had taken our daughter to the ER the night before. My wife asked the ex if she had notifed the PCP or ins. company. The ex said no. She didn't even turn the ins. info into the hospital. The ex then said she'd had to get a prescription for my daughter which cost $44. My wife asked if she'd turned the ins. info into the pharmacy and the ex said no. She said her reason for not turning it in was because she didn't think that our area was covered under the ins even though she was given a whole packet of info when we first got the ins. My wife said she would call the doctor & try to take care of the referra which she did manage to getl. She told my ex to call the pharmacy with the info so she could get a refund of $19 because she only would have had to pay a $25 copay. The ex said she would but she was going to pay the bill even if the ins wouldn't.

On Friday, my ex told me that the pharmacy refused to refund her money. So my wife called & spoke with the ins. company. She was told that the pharmacy had to reimburse the ex if they got the ins info within 7-10 days. When my wife picked my daughter up, she told the ex that. She even told the ex that if she had a problem with the pharmacy to let her know because she would file a complaint because it isn't fair for my ex to have to pay what the ins. should.

When I dropped my daughter off today, the ex still had not gone to the pharmacy to get the refund or called the hospital with the ins info.

If the ins pays their part, my ex will only have to pay $75 for the ER visit & $25 for the script which would be her yearly amount. If the ex doesn't turn in the ins info, she's going to have a much higher bill. Even though the ex is saying she's going to pay the full bill even if it's over $100, I'm afraid that she will wait til it's too late for the ins to pay and then try to make me pay it.

If my ex refuses to turn in the ins info, am I going to be liable for the amount that is over $100? I plan to call the hospital tomorrow to give them the ins info, but I am afraid that the ex is trying to pull something.

(This is in Ohio.)
 


VeronicaGia

Senior Member
Just bumping your post.

I believe you will be responsible, but it may be a means for you to get the court order modified showing you have insurance on the child and that the ex must use it or suffer the consequences of paying 100% of any uninsured medical due to her negligence.

Hopefully someone else has an idea or two.
 

ziphash

Member
Thanks. I figured I'd be responsible any how. It's just not right that she can do this. Here I am paying nearly $200 a month for family health insurance that she won't even use.

I called the hospital billing department today. She still hadn't called in our insurance information. I gave it to them, though. I'm sure she's trying to pull something because it doesn't make sense why she would want to pay twice as much for no reason. Plus, I know if she never turned it into the ER she didn't get the reimbursement from the pharmacy.

Why can't ex's just go by the rules?
 

kat1963

Senior Member
You can request a copy of the medical bills and submit them to your insurance company yourself, especially if you don't see an EOB in a few weeks. I would request them anyway, along with any treatment that was given to your child. You want to do so thru certified mail. I seriously doubt a judge would side with her not using insurance, but you never can tell. In addition, you will want to check your states child support calculator, most give a credit for insurance (basically, number on policy divided by the cost). Either way, you should probably file a motion to modify child support to include insurance coverage. This way, with a court order she is hard pressed not to use it without being found in contempt and responsible for the entire bill herself.
KAT
 

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