Review of the Ability of Noncustodial Parents to Contribute Toward the Medical Costs of Title IV-D Children in Virginia That Were Paid Under the Medicaid Program

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

We reviewed a statistical sample of the records of 200 children from a population of 54,208 children in Virginia who were covered by Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.  Based on the sample, we estimated that the noncustodial parents of 15,449 of these children could have contributed about $6.8 million towards the costs (about $11.3 million) paid by Medicaid for medical services provided during the period June 1, 2001 through May 31, 2002.   We recommended that Virginia consider the results of our study and pursue collecting the Medicaid costs incurred for children of noncustodial parents who have medical support orders and the ability to pay.