If you pay child support, you’ve probably heard of the term ordinary medical. This is a payment that one parent makes to the other. The payment is for the child’s medical expenses in a calendar year.
Of course, they don’t know in advance what the child’s medical expenses will be. So the courts use the amount of medical bills that an average child has in a year. Right now, this amount is $357.00 per year, per child. This doesn’t take into account whether a child has insurance, or how good that insurance is. If a child has known, costly medical problems, this amount can be adjusted up, but it is never adjusted down.
The parent that pays support pays an extra amount each month to cover these medical expenses. The amount each parent pays is based on his or her percentage of the parties’ shared income.
For example, if Pat earns $40,000 per year and Jessie earns $20,000 per year, Pat pays two-thirds of the ordinary medical amount each month. Two-thirds of $357 per month is $238.
If Pat is the one that pays child support, Pat pays $238 extra to Jessie each month. If Pat receives child support, Pat receives $238 less from Jessie each month.
From there, the person who receives child support pays the first $357 per year, per child, in out-of-pocket medical expenses. This is where most people go wrong.
For example, let’s say that the child has a $50 co-pay on Pat’s time. And Pat pays support. Pat can ask Jessie to reimburse Pat for the entire $50. On the other hand, if Pat receives support from Jessie, Pat can’t ask Jessie to pay any of the $50 unless Pat has already spent more than $357 per child on medical expenses in a calendar year.
So we’re clear, the parent who pays support can ask the recipient parent to reimburse them for 100% of out-of-pocket incurred medical expenses, up to the ordinary medical amount of $357 per child. On the other hand, the parent who receives support can’t ask the parent who pays support to chip in for an out-of-pocket medical expense until the parent who receives support has paid more than $357 out of pocket in a calendar year.
It’s only after the parent receiving support has paid out $357 that they can ask the paying parent to pay the extraordinary medical amount of each bill. From dollar $358 and beyond, the parties pay each new medical bill according to their percentage of income. In Pat and Jessie’s case, Pat pays two-thirds and Jessie pays one third.
Where most people go wrong is that they pay the extraordinary medical amount from the first dollars. For example, in the above scenario, the child’s first medical bill of the year is a $50 co-pay, incurred on Jessie’s time, the recipient of support. Jessie sends Pat a copy of the bill, and Pat dutifully sends Pat a check for $33, or two-thirds of the bill. This is wrong. Pat’s obligation is $0, until Jessie has paid more than $357 per year in out-of-pocket bills. It is only at dollar $358 that percentages of income kick in.
What’s Covered Under Ordinary Medical?
Lots of parents assume that things are medical expenses when they are not. Cough syrup, vitamins, band-aids and the like are not ordinary or extraordinary medical. Doctor bills, insurance co-pays, prescription costs and the like are medical. Basically, if you can buy it in the front of the pharmacy, or without a prescription, it doesn’t count. Both parents pay for these items for the child directly out of pocket.
Here’s the Michigan Child Support Formula Manual Supplement: