Opinion ID: 1649117
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Uninsured Medical Expenses

Text: The concept of child support is comprised not only of the traditional amounts one parent pays to another parent for the support of a child, established under the uniform guidelines, but also includes an order for medical support in most circumstances. Iowa Code § 598.21(4)( a ) (2003). One such common circumstance is when a health benefit plan is available to a parent through employment. Id. In this circumstance, the court is required to enter a medical support order based on the employer-provided plan, and any premium cost of the plan to a parent may be considered as grounds to deviate from the uniform support guidelines in fixing the traditional support. Id. Additionally, the custodial parent is responsible for the first $250 of the uncovered medical expenses each year for each child up to a maximum of $500 for all children. Iowa Ct. R. 9.12. Any uncovered medical expenses in excess of these amounts are paid by the parents in proportion to their respective net incomes. Id. Generally, unpaid medical support, once reduced to a specific amount, may be collected by the same remedies available for the collection of traditional child support. Iowa Code § 598.22. Thus, courts are empowered to reduce an unpaid medical support order to a judgment for the purposes of collection. Id. However, the obligee under the order is first required to establish legal entitlement to a proven amount of the unpaid medical support. In this case, Timothy asserts that Debra's claim is largely unverified and is a product of amounts that were re-created based on faulty memory and exaggerated claims. We agree that much of Debra's proof consisted of myriad statements from the insurance company explaining the benefits paid to the healthcare provider under the plan, not bills from the healthcare provider for amounts not paid by the insurance company. Other proof amounted to copies of checks written to various drugstores and retail stores, with no verification that medical supplies or prescription drugs were purchased. Furthermore, Debra failed to comply with the procedure to obtain reimbursement as established under the decree. Instead, she sought reimbursement only after Timothy petitioned to modify the physical care provisions of the decree. While the timing of her claim gives rise to suspicion, her failure to follow the court-ordered procedure to timely inform Timothy of the expenses and to allow him to reimburse her as the expenses were incurred precludes recovery in this case. Debra offered no justification for her failure to follow the condition precedent to Timothy's obligation to provide reimbursement. Thus, even as to those medical expenses supported by the evidence, Debra is not entitled to a judgment to aid in her collection.