Health Insurance

Health Insurance provided for the benefit of the minor children in an action is addressed specifically in California Family Code section 4059(d) which states that “Deductions for health insurance or health plan premiums for the parent and for any children the parent has an obligation to support and deductions for state disability insurance premiums.”

That is, either one or both parents may provide health insurance for the minor child(ren) of the relationship. To the extent that the parent is providing health insurance for the child(ren) they will receive credit for doing so. Health insurance is usually a pre-tax deduction for the parent. This has the effect of lowering your gross income by the amount of the monthly premium that you pay for the health insurance. For example, if your monthly gross income is $2,800 per month and you have a monthly health insurance premium of $300 per month, your gross income will be approximately $2,500 per month after credit has been given. These calculations take place behind the scenes in either the X-Spouse or Dissomaster program and will only be illustrated in the results. It is also possible to have dual coverage (both parents providing health insurance) for the children. If this happens, both parents could claim the monthly health insurance premium paid for the benefit of the minor child(ren).

In addition, the Court will not get into the specifics as to what type of plan that the parents provides whether it be an HMO, PPO or EPO. As long as the plan provides some level of insurance for the children, the premium will be factored into the final Child support calculation. As for co-pays and other non-premium medical/dental/counseling expenses, those are addressed under “Uninsured Health Care Costs”.