Section 120.319  Assignment of Rights to Medical Support and Collection of Payment

a)         Assignment of Rights to Medical Support

1)         By accepting medical assistance under the Public Aid Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 23, par. 5-2), a custodial relative, spouse, or a parent shall be deemed to have made assignment to the Department of any and all rights, title, and interest in any medical support obligations up to the amount of medical assistance provided (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 23, par. 10-1). The rights to medical support assigned to the Department shall constitute an obligation owed to the State by the person who is responsible for providing the support and is collectable under all available processes.

2)         This right includes the rights of any individual or any  other person who is eligible for medical assistance and on whose behalf the individual has the legal authority to execute an assignment of such rights, to support (specified as support for the purposes of medical care by a court or administrative order) and to a payment for medical care from any third party.

b)         To enforce and collect these payments, the State Medicaid agency may enter into cooperative agreements with the State IV-D agency (i.e., the Division of Child Support Enforcement within the Department of Public Aid) and other appropriate agencies, courts and law enforcement officials, to assist in making collections.

c)         Amounts of medical support or third party payments collected under this assignment shall be retained by the Department as necessary, to reimburse the Department for medical assistance payments made on behalf of an individual for whom an assignment was executed.  Any remaining amount of such collection shall be paid to the individual who executed the assignment.

d)         When an individual is no longer receiving medical assistance the assignment of medical support rights terminates except for any medical support owed to the Department for the period of time medical assistance was issued.

(Source:  Amended at 16 Ill. Reg. 1862, effective January 20, 1992)