Federal law requires every child support order to include medical support. Medical support can be:
- Private health insurance from an employer or the health insurance marketplace,
- Public health care coverage from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or
- Payment towards health care costs.
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Medical Support
Either the custodial or noncustodial parent may be ordered to:
- provide health insurance if available through his or her employer,
- pay for health insurance premiums or reimburse the custodial parent for all or a portion of the costs of health insurance obtained by the custodial parent,
- pay additional amounts to cover a portion of ongoing medical bills or as reimbursement for uninsured medical costs,
- provide a combination of the above options.
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The Health Insurance Marketplace
If you don’t have health insurance through a job, Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP, the Marketplace can help you get covered.
The Healthcare.gov customer service center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-318-2596 (TTY 1-855-889-4325). Trained representatives provide customer service in 150 languages.
Enroll on Healthcare.gov through a four-step process:
- Create an account
- Apply
- Pick a plan
- Enroll
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Medicaid & CHIP
There’s no limited enrollment period for Medicaid or CHIP. You can apply any time.
Medicaid and CHIP provide free or low-cost health coverage, including some low-income individuals, families and children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Some states have expanded their Medicaid programs to cover all people below certain income levels.
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