Time to be an adult.
The court order has read since 2005 that both parents will provide health insurance for the kids, contingent on it being available at reasonable or no cost. The Ex used to have a job that, in addition to paying her quite well, offered decent health insurance; she got fired from that job on purpose (She told people she wanted to get fired just so that she could get her child support reduced.), lost her health insurance, and collected unemployment for a full year. After she had exhausted her unemployment benefits, she then got a part-time job and wasn't eligible for employer-sponsored health insurance. After the judge ordered her to do so, The Ex finally got a full-time job that also paid well and also offered insurance; when she left Boyfriend and moved to Tiny City, she quit that job and lost that health insurance as well.
The Ex doesn't really care about this because she and her two youngest kids are enrolled in state insurance that she doesn't have to pay for out-of-pocket. If there was a bill for Son or Daughter, it was usually in Husband's name so she didn't care if it got paid or not. In fact, she took Son to Urgent Care after a football game back in 2014 (It wasn't urgent, but whatever...) and she somehow managed to have the hospital put the bill in Husband's name. For the next few weeks after that, I had the pleasure of making multiple phone calls to numerous offices trying to get the billing corrected because The Ex didn't give the hospital any of Son's insurance information.
Since she moved to Tiny City, The Ex worked at a grocery store and then as a "caregiver." (Typing that makes me wince. I cannot believe they would put anyone who is elderly and/or mentally handicapped in her care. If you have to do this for any of your family members, please please PLEASE do a background check on the individual who is assigned to them.) To the best of my knowledge, these jobs didn't offer health insurance so we just continued to pay for whatever our insurance didn't cover, sent copies to The Ex, and waited for her to pay us back for her half of them.
The issue is that The Ex hasn't made a payment in over two years, and the bills go back to 2014. Husband will occasionally provide an updated balance and ask when she'll be making a payment; The Ex ignores him. In fact, he just asked her again on November 1st; she read the message on November 3rd and hasn't logged back into 2houses since then.
Sometime in late spring/early summer, The Ex switched jobs again and is now working as a bank teller. (No, honestly. The woman who can't do third-grade math is working at a bank, handling other people's money.) I wondered to myself if The Ex had health insurance available through her employer. I know that small businesses with less than 50 employees are exempt from having to provide insurance and I can't imagine the bank in Tiny City having more than 50 employees, but they also happen to be a branch of other banks, so....maybe?
Since the bank is advertising that they have open positions for a teller, I made a phone call. One of The Ex's co-workers confirmed that yes, they offer health insurance. Husband made a phone call to Child Support; they told him they would get the letter typed up and mailed out to The Ex's employer indicating that she is required to have health insurance for Daughter.
So now we wait and see if The Ex gets automatically enrolled. I've lamented to other people in the past that we're literally paying three times for the kids - we pay for our insurance, we pay our half of what isn't covered by our insurance, and then we have to pay for The Ex's half of what isn't covered by our insurance. If she isn't going to pay us back for her half of the kids' medical bills, then she can start providing health insurance just like we do. Between the two insurances, any bills should be covered in full and we won't have to keep asking and waiting to get reimbursed.
Do I feel bad that she's going to have to start paying for her own insurance? Here's a hint: my answer starts with "n" and ends with "ot one damn bit."
The Ex doesn't really care about this because she and her two youngest kids are enrolled in state insurance that she doesn't have to pay for out-of-pocket. If there was a bill for Son or Daughter, it was usually in Husband's name so she didn't care if it got paid or not. In fact, she took Son to Urgent Care after a football game back in 2014 (It wasn't urgent, but whatever...) and she somehow managed to have the hospital put the bill in Husband's name. For the next few weeks after that, I had the pleasure of making multiple phone calls to numerous offices trying to get the billing corrected because The Ex didn't give the hospital any of Son's insurance information.
Since she moved to Tiny City, The Ex worked at a grocery store and then as a "caregiver." (Typing that makes me wince. I cannot believe they would put anyone who is elderly and/or mentally handicapped in her care. If you have to do this for any of your family members, please please PLEASE do a background check on the individual who is assigned to them.) To the best of my knowledge, these jobs didn't offer health insurance so we just continued to pay for whatever our insurance didn't cover, sent copies to The Ex, and waited for her to pay us back for her half of them.
The issue is that The Ex hasn't made a payment in over two years, and the bills go back to 2014. Husband will occasionally provide an updated balance and ask when she'll be making a payment; The Ex ignores him. In fact, he just asked her again on November 1st; she read the message on November 3rd and hasn't logged back into 2houses since then.
Sometime in late spring/early summer, The Ex switched jobs again and is now working as a bank teller. (No, honestly. The woman who can't do third-grade math is working at a bank, handling other people's money.) I wondered to myself if The Ex had health insurance available through her employer. I know that small businesses with less than 50 employees are exempt from having to provide insurance and I can't imagine the bank in Tiny City having more than 50 employees, but they also happen to be a branch of other banks, so....maybe?
Since the bank is advertising that they have open positions for a teller, I made a phone call. One of The Ex's co-workers confirmed that yes, they offer health insurance. Husband made a phone call to Child Support; they told him they would get the letter typed up and mailed out to The Ex's employer indicating that she is required to have health insurance for Daughter.
So now we wait and see if The Ex gets automatically enrolled. I've lamented to other people in the past that we're literally paying three times for the kids - we pay for our insurance, we pay our half of what isn't covered by our insurance, and then we have to pay for The Ex's half of what isn't covered by our insurance. If she isn't going to pay us back for her half of the kids' medical bills, then she can start providing health insurance just like we do. Between the two insurances, any bills should be covered in full and we won't have to keep asking and waiting to get reimbursed.
Do I feel bad that she's going to have to start paying for her own insurance? Here's a hint: my answer starts with "n" and ends with "ot one damn bit."
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