insurance and medicaid

[Tinaa]

What is the name of your state? Texas

My husband supplies the insurance for his children from his previous marriage. We also had been paying half (sometimes all) of the copays, etc. Now his ex tells us she gave the insurance cards up to the welfare office and has the kids on medicaid. Now I am worried that the gov't is going to be dunning us for paying the medical bills for his kids. We pay child support and help out extra if/when we can. Does anyone know how this works?

Thanks

 

[DChristian112]

I do not know Texas, I believe it is BCB who knows Texas law.

However, in MN, the NCP pays a percentage of any and all welfare received by CP.

(It is funny, a single mother of five can easliy be approved for welfare, however, if she is collecting a measley $200 a month, they go after the NCP for the money that the state already awards to low income people. Go figure.
I never agreed with that idea. I think it is unfair.
Yes, I know, taxpayers are already covering the welfare, but if it is already covered, and accounted for, why go after someone else to pay it back?
I think it is silly. Especially for the ones who commit welfare fraud, and some poor, unsuspecting NCP gets stuck paying it back.

 

[Whyte Noise]

I dunno how it works in Texas in particular either, but I imagine most states guidelines are pretty much along the same lines.

In Missouri, when you apply for Medicaid, you're asked if you have other insurance. If you do, and you qualify for Medicaid, then your private insurance is the primary, and Medicaid is the secondary. You do NOT give up your private insurance cards to DFS. Medicaid refuses to pay first if you have other coverage. What they WILL pay is what the primary doesn't cover.

I smell a rat.

And yes, they can, and more than likely will, come after your husband to repay HER debt. That's how it works. No matter if you have insurance coverage, no matter if you send in the CS faithfully every month and the CP doesn't report it... they come after the NCP for reimbursment.

 

[OnlyOneVoice]

I asked my friend who is on medicaid how it worked for her.

She told me here in Texas that when you have private insurance then the Private carrier is your primary carrier.

The doctor, clinic, etc bills your primary carrier first and what ever is balance, (not covered or co-pays) is picked up and covered by Medicaid. Since she and her husband are still married, she couldn't answer the other part, but she said in no way was she asked to surrender the insurance cards to DHS.

The Mom should still have the cards and be presenting both to the provider unless she has dropped all coverage except medicaid.

Now I don't know if the ex will be persued if he is paying all his child support. It may be that he will be. I think in the matter of justice however, he should only be billed the amount that Medicaid covers which would be minimal if she is still carrying insurance with a private carrier, but just because I think that would be just doesn't mean that's what happens.

 

[haiku]

in my state if you are just on medicaid, it is not something that needs to be paid back. ANd your ins. should still be primary.

If the ex is receiving welfare, than you would need to be paying the child support directly to welfare, as your share of the childs costs. THAN mom would recieve her welfare check. Done this way legally, you have already paid your half of the debt to welfare for caring for your child.

if mom is committing fraud and has not reported her child support income you could be in big trouble, because you may end up having to pay "twice" arearage and current, when the welfare office catches up to you. Welfare offices don't care that the NCP had no idea.

I would find out exactly what sort of assistance your ex is geting.

 

[Lil Miss Smarty Panties]

I totally agree with haiku. You need to find out exactly what she's getting. I can tell you that welfare won't care if she committed fraud, they'll make him pay it back. We had to pay back several thousand and had proof of fraud. No one cared.

 

[Tinaa]

She did this in New Mexico and got caught! The divorce papers state that child support is to be paid directly to the CP. You can bet, after perusing this and other boards, I got out the papers to double check. In the N.M. case, we sent a copy of the divorce and all the canceled checks and they sent a paper saying they would not pursue my husband for the debt. The thing of it is, they also stated they would not pursue her either, unless she moved back to N.M. and tried to get public assisitance. I think I'll get on the phone and call the welfare dept. in her county and see what is really going on!

 

[karma1]

Please come back and share..

She did this in New Mexico and got caught! The divorce papers state that child support is to be paid directly to the CP. You can bet, after perusing this and other boards, I got out the papers to double check. In the N.M. case, we sent a copy of the divorce and all the canceled checks and they sent a paper saying they would not pursue my husband for the debt. The thing of it is, they also stated they would not pursue her either, unless she moved back to N.M. and tried to get public assisitance. I think I'll get on the phone and call the welfare dept. in her county and see what is really going on!

if you get any info from welfare on this or her! My experience and friends experience has been, when talking to welfare, all matters are confidential-even if you are the one paying them back~

 

[nextwife]

"if you get any info from welfare on this or her! My experience and friends experience has been, when talking to welfare, all matters are confidential-even if you are the one paying them back~"

However, shouldn't they be able to provide all the coverage/CS payment info to the welfare office so that they have a record of what she IS recieving, and thus what she is not entitled to recieve? If a person is PAYING and aware, for example, that the OP is collecting welfare, they should not have a right to prove payment to OP of all insurance and CS to welfare without asking confidential specifics about the case?

Seems that dealing with known fraud, if any, up front, would save a state the administrative costs of having to collect back from the NCP.

 

[Tinaa]

I spoke to a lady at the Dept. of Human Services. She told me that the insurance the father provides is the primary insurance and medicaid pays what the insurance doesn't cover. She told me she did not take the insurance cards from the mother! Both the insurance card and the medicaid must be presented when services are rendered. I still don't trust the system. She is receiving food stamps, but I don't know what else she gets. Kids volunteer all sorts of information we didn't even want to know! She does not work, I do know that. I did make sure the DHS knows we pay child support and extras when ever possible. I'm going to do more research and see what else I can find out. I don't want to get stuck paying the gov't back for things we were paying before she applied for welfare!
I know times are tough all over! I take unpaid leave in the summer just so the kids can visit. Why doesn't the gov't require her to work? The kids are 15, 12 and 10. They kids are in school and here most of the summer. I just don't understand how this works! Can someone enlighten me?