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Not suggesting one way or another but TANF prefers for teen mothers to live at home. Since the WRA they have acknowledged that the best way to get someone off assistance is for them to be in a supportive atmosphere while getting the assistance necessary to move into a more financially secure position.
Just wondering then, who provides the baby's insurance?
Fob does.
He has it through his employer. Lol. He just hasn't handed over the card. He showed it to my daughter at court but that was it.
Be careful. If she is covered by private ins AND medicaid, you must notify the state of the private ins immed. Private ins is always the first payor. State will prob let baby keep medicaid for now cause dad is unreliable. But daughter must get ins info and give it to pedi office asap. They have to go back and bill private as primary from time baby was covered, and refund money already collected from medicaid from date baby covered by dads ins. This could become a huge mess, even with legal implications if daughter conceals private ins info from pedi office. If fob wont give mom ins info immed, tell attorney to get it from him.
Be careful. If she is covered by private ins AND medicaid, you must notify the state of the private ins immed. Private ins is always the first payor. State will prob let baby keep medicaid for now cause dad is unreliable. But daughter must get ins info and give it to pedi office asap. They have to go back and bill private as primary from time baby was covered, and refund money already collected from medicaid from date baby covered by dads ins. This could become a huge mess, even with legal implications if daughter conceals private ins info from pedi office. If fob wont give mom ins info immed, tell attorney to get it from him.
We are certainly letting the attorney handle it. That's why we aren't stressing. No reason to. Makes no sense.
We are simply going to hand the bills over until he hands over the card. Eventually he will just give it to her or he will get tired of filing the claims.
We are certainly letting the attorney handle it. That's why we aren't stressing. No reason to. Makes no sense.
We are simply going to hand the bills over until he hands over the card. Eventually he will just give it to her or he will get tired of filing the claims.
The next time she's in court, she should have the court order him to hand over the card.
If there's an emergency, you don't want your granddaughter to be treated as uninsured upon arrival. That's what hospitals do. I know because I've been to the ER without my insurance card. It's unfortunate, but doctors do pay attention to what insurance is listed when they diagnose and treat. On top of all that, he might not submit the claims and then the doctor's office might send a letter saying the granddaughter can no longer be a patient due to lack of payment.
If she knows the name of the insurance company, she can call directly herself and request they send her a card or at least provide her with the policy information. If she doesn't know the insurance company, she can call his employer's HR department and ask the name of the insurance company. We did this when my son's friend was kicked out of his mother's house in 11th grade. He broke his hand and she refused to provide him with his insurance information, we called her employer's HR department to get the insurance company name, and then called the insurance company for the policy information.
There are laws about noncustodial parents providing custodial parents with insurance cards. I can't find NJ's, but here's CA's:
Quote:
(c) In any case in which health insurance coverage is provided for
a child pursuant to a court or administrative order, the insurer
shall do all of the following:
(1) Provide any information, including, but not limited to, the
health insurance membership or identification card regarding the
child, the evidence of coverage and disclosure form, and any other
information provided to the covered parent about the child's health
care coverage to the noncovered parent having custody of the child or
any other person having custody of the child and to the local child
support agency when requested by the local child support agency.
(2) Permit the noncovered parent or person having custody of the
child, or a provider with the approval of the noncovered parent or
person having custody, to submit claims for covered services without
the approval of the covered parent.
(3) Make payment on claims submitted in accordance with
subparagraph (2) directly to the noncovered parent or person having
custody, the provider, or to the Medi-Cal program. Payment on claims
for services provided to the child shall be made to the covered
parent for claims submitted or paid by the covered parent.
The problem is that the person who brings the child is responsible for the bill. And the bills must be filed within a certain period of time, commonly three months from date of service. And if the pediatrician's office is requesting payment from Medicaid, and then they find out that the baby had private insurance, too, they're going to have to refund to Medicaid everything that they've been paid by Medicaid from the date the child was initially insured privately. Then they have to try to collect from the private insurance - but if it's been over three months since the date of service, the claims may be denied by the private insurer. Then the pediatrician will bill your daughter, and when she doesn't pay, they will send it out to a collection agency in her name and discharge the baby for non-payment.
I can see your logic - if the idiot won't hand over the insurance information, let him deal with the mess. But the fact is that your daughter's credit could be ruined and the baby could be discharged from the pediatrician's practice for non-payment, if she lets this slide. It's already a mess, from the standpoint of the pediatrician's billing office, if anything has been billed to Medicaid since she was put on Dad's insurance.
As for thinking that she doesn't get sick, so she won't need medical care, the cost of her routine checkups and shots for the first two years will be over two thousand dollars.
Of course, Dad could be lying. He can flash his own card, say she's on it, when he didn't add her. It costs money to add her, and he is definitely averse to spending money on her.
Did the court order him to provide coverage, if it's available through his employer? Then if the lawyer requests the info from him, he will probably give it. Alternately, if he's still being a jerk, the information on his paystubs will show where he is working, and the attorney can send them the court order regarding insurance, and request that they notify him of whether the baby is insured, and of any change in insurance.
Is that plan through your work really covering the atty's fees for all this? That is fantastic. Normally, you'd be in the hole a couple of thousand at least for what's happened so far.
BTW, your daughter and FOB both need life insurance! Often, courts will mandate it. Average cost of raising a kid is a quarter million, and only going up! Term life insurance is very cheap, especially for people their age. Honestly, they both should have term policies for half a million at least on each of them. If he were gone, baby's life would be fine, since your daughter has you and hubby backing her, but if SHE were gone, he would need a lot of help - daycare, etc., cause it doesn't sound like anyone in that house is safe to care for baby. This should have been broached in court when she was there, but don't worry, they'll be back...
Since he seems to be thinking in terms of "I'll do it if YOU'll do it", then he might agree to getting term life ins if your daughter also does, both policies with baby as beneficiary, which cannot be changed. It's all for your granddaughter's protection. You can set up a trust for her so that the ins money funds the trust, if one of them goes, with a neutral third party named as trustee, so that money cannot be used to buy frivolous items for the surviving parent.
Really, there's a lot to be happy about. HE HAS A JOB!!!! This is a wonderful thing. Many young men don't. He wants to be in his daughter's life! Many young men don't. As he gets used to the notion that he has to help support his daughter, and hopefully falls in love with her, things could get a lot better.
It may help him to get over being pissed off about paying if your daughter somehow lets him see the cost of things for the baby, to the extent of every penny he pays going to the baby. Childcare, clothing, diapers, formula. If she buys all this separately from her own expenses, in the most economical way, and somehow gets the receipts to him, he may feel somewhat placated, and realize that the money isn't just a windfall for your daughter, which of course it is not.
The problem is that the person who brings the child is responsible for the bill.
When there's a court order designating responsibility for children's medical bills, a medical bill collector can't go after one parent for more than his/her share.
Quote:
Originally Posted by parentologist
BTW, your daughter and FOB both need life insurance! Often, courts will mandate it. Average cost of raising a kid is a quarter million, and only going up! Term life insurance is very cheap, especially for people their age. Honestly, they both should have term policies for half a million at least on each of them. If he were gone, baby's life would be fine, since your daughter has you and hubby backing her, but if SHE were gone, he would need a lot of help - daycare, etc., cause it doesn't sound like anyone in that house is safe to care for baby. This should have been broached in court when she was there, but don't worry, they'll be back...
Since he seems to be thinking in terms of "I'll do it if YOU'll do it", then he might agree to getting term life ins if your daughter also does, both policies with baby as beneficiary, which cannot be changed. It's all for your granddaughter's protection. You can set up a trust for her so that the ins money funds the trust, if one of them goe;s, with a neutral third party named as trustee, so that money cannot be used to buy frivolous items for the surviving parent.
OMG, the courts are not going to order an impoverished single mother to get life insurance when she can't afford to feed herself and her child.
Quote:
Originally Posted by parentologist
It may help him to get over being pissed off about paying if your daughter somehow lets him see the cost of things for the baby, to the extent of every penny he pays going to the baby. Childcare, clothing, diapers, formula. If she buys all this separately from her own expenses, in the most economical way, and somehow gets the receipts to him, he may feel somewhat placated, and realize that the money isn't just a windfall for your daughter, which of course it is not.
That's an awful suggestion. It sets him up to believe she needs to be accountable to him for every penny of child support she spends. She has a right to use that child support to pay for housing, a vehicle, her education, or whatever is necessary to establish and maintain a stable life for her child.
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