1. 5527 POINTS
    Marlin McKelvy
    President, Consumer Directed Benefit Solutions, Memphis, Tennessee
    Yes, absent some court order, there is no mandatory requirement that a husband or wife provide health insurance for their spouse or children. When one spouse could drop their spouse from their health insurance will depend upon whether they are covered under an individual health insurance policy or a group health insurance policy and, in the case of coverage under a group policy, whether the employer uses a Section 125 plan providing for employees to pay their share of health insurance premiums on a pre-tax basis. In the group policy setting when employees are paying their premiums on a pre-tax basis then changes to coverage are limited to the annual open enrollment period or change of life status events (e.g. - marriage, divorce, child birth/adoption, loss of other coverage). So, you and your spouse can't have a fight over the weekend and the your spouse walks into work on Monday and drops you from their group health insurance just out of spite. With individual health policies it is easier to change the coverage level at any month of the policy period.

    Now, thanks to ObamaCare, which somehow managed to not define a spouse as a dependent for health insurance purposes (remember "We've got to pass the law to find out what's in it" from Nancy Pelosi?). This has changed the potential status of spouses being defined as eligible dependents under the personnel policies of some employer's group health plans. While relatively few employers have dropped coverage for spouses entirely, many employers are beginning to adopt personnel policies that require that employee's spouses who are employed and have health insurance coverage available through their employer to enroll in their employer's health plan or some are assessing a penalty or extra charge to spouses who don't enroll in outside coverage through their employer's plans. This may create a situation where a person may misunderstand that they are being forced off their spouse's health plan due to a decision by the spouse's employer and not the employee themselves.
    Answered on September 12, 2014
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