Implementing Divorce Changes - Health & Dental Insurance

Depending on the outcome of your divorce settlement, you may have important changes that need to be made to your health care and dental care coverages.  If you were covering your ex-spouse on your plan in the past, when you change to single or single plus dependents, you will effectively remove your ex-spouse from your plan.  It will be up to your ex-spouse to obtain his/her health and dental insurances.   

By law there is a period of time, currently 3 years, during which the ex-spouse no longer covered under existing health insurance is entitled to identical coverage at a similar cost.  This law prevents sudden dropping of health insurance coverage which can be devastating, and gives the person time to find his or her own insurance coverage.  Usually the uncovered spouse needs to contact the ex-spouse’s plan administrator within 90 days after the divorce to ensure coverage.  The law that provides for this coverage is called COBRA, which stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

Usually the policyholder of the children’s insurance is governed by the terms in your divorce decree.  When determining who should carry the children’s health and dental insurance, consider how the current stringent privacy laws will affect you.  The policyholder will be the one with access to the health records and access to the explanation of benefits (EOBs), and that person will be the one the insurance company will want to deal with if there are problems, inquiries, or appeals.  If cooperation is low between the parents, this can cause considerable distress for the parent who does not own the policy because you can be held liable for health related charges for the dependents and be a part of collection or lawsuit activities if the medical bills are not paid.