State law requires each order that comes through the Friend of the Court to contain language regarding medical support and uninsured medical expenses. Each order requires parents to obtain/or maintain health care insurance for the child/ren if coverage is available to the parent at reasonable cost or as a benefit of employment. The order also must contain a clause addressing medical costs not covered by insurance.

National Medical Support Notice (NMSN)

Federal and state law now require that the Friend of the Court notify parents’ employers to enroll the dependant children in the health care coverage. By law, the employers are required to honor medical support orders.

A Notice of Order for Dependant Health Care Coverage form will be sent to the employer. The employer must complete the form and forward it to the insurance carrier within 30 days if insurance is available to the parent. The insurance carrier then has an additional 30 days to enroll the child under their policy and forward the information to the Friend of the Court.

A letter will be mailed to the parents notifying them that the employer is being required to enroll the children in health care coverage. A parent may object to the enrollment by submitting a written statement to the Friend of the Court within 14 days of receipt of enrollment letter. A hearing will then be set to determine if enrollment is appropriate or not.

NOTE: The Notice of Order for Dependant Health Care Coverage form will be sent out to the employer every time that the parent has a new job.

MiChild Insurance Information

If insurance is not available to as a parent at reasonable cost through your employer, you child may qualify for health insurance through the State of Michigan called MiChild. Below is a link for an application to apply for this service.

MiCHILD LINK

Request for Health Care Expense Payment

Each parent is responsible for uninsured medical expenses based upon the ratio of incomes as outlined in your court order. Uninsured medical expenses are any expenses that insurance does not cover. For example, co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions etc. The following is information on the Friend of the Court’s policies and procedures on how the Payee (party who is submitting uninsured medical bills) is responsible for submitting the expenses to the Friend of the Court and to the Obligor (party who is receiving the uninsured medical expenses).

To request payment, you must first submit copies of bills, receipts etc., to the obligated parent. The obligated parent must be allowed 28 days after you noticed him/her to respond to you by either making a payment in full or payment arrangements. If the obligated parent fails to do either, then please complete the Request for Health Care Expense Payment form and submit to the F.O.C. Verification of submission of the bills to the obligated will be required when the Request for Health Care Expense Payment is submitted.

You as the Payee, must submit supporting documents (billing and receipts) pertaining to the Request for Health Care Expense Payment. The name of the health care provider must be printed on the bill or receipt. Also, each bill or receipt must indicate the name of the patient, date of service and the nature of the service provided. Please note that you must submit uninsured medical expenses to the Friend of the Court within 1 year of the date that the expense was incurred.

You will also need to fill out the area that indicates Requesting Party’s Statement on the Complaint for Enforcement of Health Care Expense Payment form. By completing this form you are swearing to the court that the obligated parent did not make any payment to you or the medical provider.

After completing both sets of forms, please send the forms and the bills/receipts to the F.O.C. for further processing. Determination of your claim will be made and enforcement will begin. The obligated parent will have 21 days to make payment to you or to the medical provider. The Friend of the Court will contact you around that 21-day period to see if payment has been received. If the Obligor failed to remit payment then medical arrears account will be establish and the obligor will have to make payment on this account through our office.

NOTE: As of 2004 per Michigan State Law, $289.00 of Ordinary Medical Expense Payment must be deducted per child, per calendar year. What this means is that you as the Payee have to show that you have paid out of pocket expenses in the amount of $289.00 per child before anything can be received in this office. The $289.00 will be deducted off the top of the expenses that you are submitting and you will then be reimbursed for the remaining amount per your court percentages. Please click on the Forms link on the left for the reimbursement forms.