auto insurance agent asking for health insurance card; why?

[m.paris]

rz wrote:
I had a doctor's office a few years ago try to insist I put my SSN on a form. They said it was for insurance purposes. I told them that was BS. My health insurance company had stopped associating SSN with member number years before. After a heated exchange with the receptionist, she went to talk to the office manager, who finally came out and said they didn't need it after all.

Been there; had that happen; same general scenario; same result.

[Speedy]

http://www.compbenefits.com/hipaa_policy.html

"We have received a number of questions inquiring as to whether or not the Privacy Rules promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") will prohibit the collection or use of an individual's Social Security number as an identifier for the group health plan.

Although the HIPAA Privacy Rules provide for the protection of individually identifiable information, which may include Social Security numbers, we do not believe that it is the intent of HIPAA to limit the collection or use of an individual's Social Security number for the following reasons. First, and most importantly, the HIPAA regulations do not specifically prohibit the use or disclosure of an individual's Social Security number. Secondly, since the individual's Social Security number falls under the same category as other individually identifiable information, such as the individual's name and address, it is equally protected under the HIPAA privacy and security requirements. Lastly, because of the fact that the Social Security number falls under the same category as other individually identifiable information, to prohibit the use or disclosure of the individual's Social Security number would also preclude the use of the individual's other identifiers, such as name and address, which is clearly not the intent of HIPAA.

We hope that this information has been helpful in your understanding of why we believe that the use of Social Security numbers is still allowed under the HIPAA regulations

If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@compbenefits.com. "

[mrlynn]

FYI, Medicare uses Social Security numbers. You can't bill MC without them.

Also, not all patients have insurance; it is helpful to have an identifier besides name and birthdate. And, believe it or not, patients with similar names, changed names, expired insurance, mistyped addresses, etc. do get mixed up, even with 'Name Alerts' in the software. We stored SSNs in our database. But I drew the line at charge-card numbers. Didn't want the responsibility.

Never had an insurance company ask for my health-insurance card, though. Not even for life insurance, which required a physical exam.

/Mr Lynn