.Will I lose my health insurance when divorced if A provides it? (NY SPECIFIC)

THIS IS NY SPECIFIC - NOT APPLICABLE TO OTHER STATES

In NY, there is a law called DRL Section 255 which addresses this - you can read the law on our website here: www.womenslaw.org/statutes_detail.php?statute_id=8439. As you can see, it basically says that both parties understand that once they are divorced they will not be covered by the other’s insurance if they had been in the past and that they will have to get their own insurance after the divorce unless there is an agreement made otherwise by the parties (and permitted by the health insurance). The divorce papers should address this issue of health insurance. Sometimes it’s actually stated in the Summons with Notice or a spouse can be notified of this via a separate document or in the Plaintiff’s/Defendant’s Affidavit.

In a contested divorce where the parties appear before a judge, perhaps a person may be able to negotiate some sort of monetary help to pay for his/her COBRA costs if that spouse chooses to do COBRA once the coverage ends. In case you are not familiar with it, here is a link with some information about COBRA from the US Department of Labor website: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/workers-and-families/changing-jobs-and… If you are hoping to try to negotiate staying on your spouse’s health insurance long-term, you may want to ask an attorney who does divorce in NY if it might be possible for a divorced spouse to remain on the other spouse’s insurance (aside from the option of doing COBRA). Here is a link for lawyers, some of which are free or low-cost: http://www.womenslaw.org/find-help/ny/finding-lawyer and here is some general info on divorce in NY in case that’s useful: http://www.womenslaw.org/laws/ny/divorce

Also, if you are low-income, you may also want to look into health insurance options for low-income New Yorkers. Here is a link with info on what’s available from the NYC government website: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/health-insurance.page

Lastly, you may already be aware of this or it may not be relevant but while the divorce is going on, neither spouse can remove the other or the children from the health insurance or other insurance as per the automatic orders - see here: http://www.nycourts.gov/divorce/forms_instructions/Notice.pdf It says “Neither party shall cause the other party or the children of the marriage to be removed from any existing medical, hospital and dental insurance coverage, and each, and each party shall maintain the existing medical, hospital and dental insurance coverage in full force and effect.”