§ 19-11-26.Accident and sickness insurance coverage for children; order requiring medical support
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 1. Child Support Recovery Act · Last amended 2010 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-26
Plain-English Summary
Child support covers more than cash. In any case involving the assignment and collection of child support, or where medical assistance benefits are being provided, the department or the court may ask, as a regular part of its inquiry, whether accident and sickness coverage for the children is reasonably available to a party at a reasonable cost through the party’s employment or union. The section also defines a “person or entity providing access to coverage”: an employer or union offering a group insurance plan as defined in Section 607(b) of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, a health maintenance organization, a service benefit plan, or any other health insurance policy under Title 33.
If coverage is reasonably available through the medical insurance obligor’s job or union, the department may petition to modify an existing support order to add it, intervene in a pending case to have it included, or request it in any action the department brings. On the department’s petition, a court or administrative hearing officer may include medical support in its order if it finds coverage available at a reasonable cost. Both steps are discretionary.
Every medical support order must warn the obligor that failing to provide coverage may result in direct enforcement of the order; § 19-11-27 supplies those direct-enforcement tools, including the National Medical Support Notice. Orders entered or modified before April 1, 1994, are treated as a matter of law as containing that warning. A medical support order lasts until a further order of the court or hearing officer; until the child is emancipated, unless the order expressly says otherwise; or until coverage is no longer available and no conversion privilege exists at a reasonable cost to continue it past the policy’s end. Finally, the order can’t force a plan to provide a benefit or option it doesn’t otherwise offer, except as needed to meet this section’s requirements. The section was last amended in 2010.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Georgia child support order require a parent to provide health insurance?
Yes. On the department’s petition, a court or administrative hearing officer may include medical support in a support order if coverage is available to the medical insurance obligor through employment or a union at a reasonable cost. The word is “may,” so the decision rests with the court or hearing officer, and it depends on a finding that coverage is available at a reasonable cost.
How long does a medical support order last in Georgia?
Until one of three events: a further order of the court or hearing officer; the child’s emancipation, unless the order expressly says otherwise; or the point when coverage is no longer available and no conversion privilege exists at a reasonable cost to continue it past the policy’s termination date. Any one of those ends the order.
Does a medical support order end when the parent’s work health insurance ends?
Not automatically. The order ends when coverage is no longer available and no conversion privileges exist at a reasonable cost to continue coverage beyond the policy’s termination date. If coverage can be converted at a reasonable cost, the order stays in effect. A further order of the court or hearing officer, or the child’s emancipation, can also end it.
Does a medical support order have to warn the parent about enforcement?
Yes. Any order requiring medical support under this section must contain language notifying the medical insurance obligor that failing to provide accident and sickness coverage may result in direct enforcement of the order. Orders entered or modified before April 1, 1994, are treated as a matter of law as containing that notice, even if their text doesn’t include it.
Can the state ask to add health insurance to my existing child support order?
Yes. If the department finds that coverage is reasonably available through the medical insurance obligor’s employment or union, it is authorized to petition to modify an existing support order to include the coverage. It may also intervene in a pending case to have coverage included, or request coverage in any action the department brings itself.
Amendment History
Laws 1985, p. 785, § 8; Laws 1994, p. 1728, § 2; Laws 2010, Act 410, § 3, eff. July 1, 2010.