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8.1 Medical Support 8.1.1 Medical Support Introduction Medical Support refers to the obligation that a parent has to pay for his or her child’s medical care, either through the provision of health insurance coverage or direct payment of medical bills. The child support agency (CSA) is responsible for establishing Medical support orders for some children receiving Medicaid who have an absent parent. The CSA is also responsible for establishing paternity and establishing medical support obligations for unpaid and ongoing medical support (including recovery of birth costs.) 8.1.2 Recovery of Birth Costs When the non marital father of the unborn child is not included in the Medicaid group at the initial eligibility determination he could be held responsible for repayment of birth costs. 8.1.3 Referral to Child Support Agencies The income maintenance (IM) agency provides the CSA with information vital to opening medical support cases. The IM agency also supplies continuing information, which assists the CSA in providing medical support services. For health care applications, new health care requests on existing cases, and person add requests that include minor children who have an absent parent, a referral is systematically sent to the CSA at the time health care eligibility is confirmed, with the exception of the situations listed in SECTION 8.2.2 EXEMPTIONS FROM COOPERATION. Detailed questions about absent parents (such as, name, Social Security number, date of birth, or contact information) cannot be asked during the application process for health care-only applications. The referral will still be sent to the CSA, even if the absent parent’s name is unknown (see Process Help Section 10.2.1 Enter Absent Parent Information). Note A Referral to Child Support form (DCF-F-DWSP 3080) only needs to be completed when the Absent Parent page cannot be completed in CWW. While IM agencies refer individuals receiving Medicaid or BadgerCare Plus to the CSA, the CSA determines which cases receive child support services. Not all Medicaid or BadgerCare Plus members qualify for free child support services and not all members are required to cooperate with the CSA. The following individuals (including minors) for whom Medicaid is requested or being received, must be referred to the local CSA with the exceptions noted below: 1. A pregnant member who is unmarried or married and not living with their husband. However, pregnant members are not required to cooperate with the CSA during the pregnancy or the 12- month postpartum period (see BadgerCare Plus Handbook, Section 8.1 Pregnant Members). The member's eligibility for BadgerCare Plus will continue during this period, regardless of the member's cooperation. a. Exception: Pregnant members receiving the BadgerCare Plus Prenatal Benefit should not be referred to a CSA. 2. A child receiving SSI. Parents or caretaker relatives are not sanctioned if they do not cooperate with the CSA. 3. Non-marital co-parents when paternity has not been legally established, even when both parents are in the same home.