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How Divorce Affects Your Heath Insurance Benefits

This week, William Roseman, the Mayor of Carlstadt in Bergen County, New Jersey, and his former wife, were convicted of stealing health insurance benefits.  One may ask, how do you steal heath insurance?  The answer is by failing to inform your health insurance carrier of entry of the final judgment of divorce. 

Generally, all carriers require notification of divorce within sixty days of entry of the final judgment, if not less.  For insurance purposes, divorce, like marriage and birth, constitutes a life change warranting modification of the persons eligible for benefits.  By failing to notify a health insurance or other insurance carrier of a divorce where the former spouse is no longer entitled to benefits constitutes, insurance fraud.  If you are contemplating divorce, it is important to speak with an attorney regarding your obligations to notify insurance carriers upon entry of the divorce judgment.  In addition, it is advisable to contact all insurance carriers to determine their notification requirements so that you can plan accordingly.

Full post as published by New Jersey Law Blog on June 04, 2009 (boomark / email).