State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Utah > Title-78b > Chapter-12 > 78b-12-212

78B-12-212. Medical expenses.
(1) (a) The court shall order that insurance for the medical expenses of the minorchildren be provided by a parent if it is available at a reasonable cost.
(b) The court shall, in accordance with Section 30-3-5, designate which health, hospital,or dental insurance plan is primary and which health, hospital, or dental insurance plan issecondary if at any time a dependent child is covered by both parents' health, hospital, or dentalinsurance plans.
(2) In determining which parent shall be ordered to maintain insurance for medicalexpenses, the court or administrative agency may consider the:
(a) reasonableness of the cost;
(b) availability of a group insurance policy;
(c) coverage of the policy; and
(d) preference of the custodial parent.
(3) The order shall require each parent to share equally the out-of-pocket costs of thepremium actually paid by a parent for the children's portion of insurance unless the court findsgood cause to order otherwise.
(4) The parent who provides the insurance coverage may receive credit against the basechild support award or recover the other parent's share of the children's portion of the premium. In cases in which the parent does not have insurance but another member of the parent'shousehold provides insurance coverage for the children, the parent may receive credit against thebase child support award or recover the other parent's share of the children's portion of thepremium.
(5) The children's portion of the premium is a per capita share of the premium actuallypaid. The premium expense for the children shall be calculated by dividing the premium amountby the number of persons covered under the policy and multiplying the result by the number ofchildren in the instant case.
(6) The order shall, in accordance with Subsection 30-3-5(1)(b), include a cash medicalsupport provision that requires each parent to equally share all reasonable and necessaryuninsured and unreimbursed medical and dental expenses incurred for the dependent children,including but not limited to deductibles and copayments unless the court finds good cause toorder otherwise.
(7) The parent ordered to maintain insurance shall provide verification of coverage to theother parent, or to the Office of Recovery Services under Title IV of the Social Security Act, 42U.S.C. Section 601 et seq., upon initial enrollment of the dependent children, and thereafter on orbefore January 2 of each calendar year. The parent shall notify the other parent, or the Office ofRecovery Services under Title IV of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 601 et seq., ofany change of insurance carrier, premium, or benefits within 30 calendar days of the date theparent first knew or should have known of the change.
(8) A parent who incurs medical expenses shall provide written verification of the costand payment of medical expenses to the other parent within 30 days of payment.
(9) In addition to any other sanctions provided by the court, a parent incurring medicalexpenses may be denied the right to receive credit for the expenses or to recover the otherparent's share of the expenses if that parent fails to comply with Subsections (7) and (8).

Amended by Chapter 285, 2010 General Session