Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

How the Affordable Care Act Affects Divorce

By Christian V. Badali
April 02, 2014

On Oct. 1, 2013, Americans without health insurance were for the first time able to buy private insurance by choosing among different levels of plans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, sometimes referred to as Obamacare. Specifically, beginning Jan. 1, 2014, people with pre-existing health conditions will not be denied coverage as health insurance providers will no longer be permitted to refuse to insure an individual or even to charge insureds with pre-existing conditions higher premiums for health insurance coverage. How do these radical changes to health care law in the United States affect its citizens who are currently going through the divorce process or are recently divorced?

Women and Health Insurance

According to a study from 2012 done by the University of Michigan, approximately 115,000 women lose their private health insurance each year as a result of divorce. The study also found that most do not get health insurance quickly thereafter for a number of reasons. It is believed that as many as one-quarter of all divorcing women who are no longer covered by their former husbands' health coverage may remain without insurance for at least six months. Many of these women who are not getting insurance did not have jobs outside the home, or work at positions where health insurance is not offered. Others are able to get continuing coverage through COBRA plans offered by their ex-spouses' employers, but often cannot afford the cost, and the duration of this coverage is limited, sometimes only for 36 months.

Read These Next
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws Image

This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.

The Article 8 Opt In Image

The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.

Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin Image

With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.

Legal Possession: What Does It Mean? Image

Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.

The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions Image

UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?