My husband just got asked to provide birth certificates & marriage licenses

[IdaBriggs]

to verify eligibility for our health insurance through his work.

I don't know why this is bugging me, but it seems like a great set-up for identity theft to have such important documentation in my husband's personnel file.

FYI, we've been married for 13 years, the twins will be 2 in November, and neither of us has *EVER* been asked for such a thing in over 20 years of business.

ON EDIT -- They can see a COPY of these documents, but there is NO WAY I want them to have 'paper' copies of these things. The more I think about it, the more flabbergasted I am at the audacity of such a thing -- our marriage license has 'mother's maiden name' information, and birth certificates -- WTF???

:banghead:

[recoveringrepublican]

1. That's wierd. My husband and I have never been asked either. nt

[fasttense]

2. I go by my maiden name and people in the South never believe

my husband and I are married. Despite my 2 children looking just like me, I always have to show my marriage license, even when putting the kids in school. I guess they all think we have been living together for 25 years.

[deaniac21]

34. Damn, those southerners are dumb!

[bdamomma]

3. knowing me, I would say over 20years of business

and you're asking me for this sort of information, but then again it is still Bush's America.

[AlabamaBrightBlueDot]

4. That is standard where I work

It is an Blue Cross Blue Shield thing (or so I am told)

[QueenOfCalifornia]

7. B.S. (Not you, what you have heard.)

We have BS/BC and no one asked to see anything like a Marriage license - I needed my marriage license to get my social security card changed from my maiden name to the married name though.

When we got married, I was added to the insurance at my husbands work - after a year or two I asked to go to BS/BC since it covered more for all of us - there are 4 of us here.

I think the company in the Original Post has been scammed and they are sick of it.

[LiberalFighter]

17. The only time I have been required to provide info was when I retired.

Then it had to be a notarized birth certificate and if I was married then I would had needed a marriage certificate.

[liberalhistorian]

21. My husband's last job (the one he just lost)

used the Blues and, when we got married last fall, we had to give them a copy of our marriage certificate to prove that I was eligible on his policy. We didn't have to ever give birth certificates, though. I've never been asked for a BC for work my whole adult life. Most people don't even have their BC or even a copy of it in their files. I know I'd have to go back to my Ohio county of birth for mine. And how would you prove conclusively that a BC is yours, anyway?????

[M0rpheus]

28. Birth Certificates are usually for dependent children.

Not for adults.
Additional documentation may be required in the case of adoption or guardianship.

Marriage certificate is required for the dependent spouse.

[AlabamaBrightBlueDot]

54. Thank you for the wording of your reply....

When I started at that company (18 years ago) as a single mom, I had to provide my daughter's birth certificate, her ss#, my ss# and my legal photo id.
If I were to get married I would now have to provide a marriage certificate.
If I were married and then divorced, I would have to provide a divorce decree.

This state does NOT recognize domestic partnerships so no long term live in partner can be covered here (or so I am told) regardless of the make up of the partnership (male -female or same sex). Common law marriages are handled differently as well and must be proven to fit this state's criteria.

It has been many years since I had to fill out the paperwork; I do believe I had to provide my mother's information as well as I had her listed as guardian for my child (this was for life insurance benefits) and disposition of any 401k earnings. (401K- now that is humorous at this point!)

It may well be a corporate policy, but, it was what I had to do to provide for my child and myself. I have no reason to believe that the situation is any different now.

[NashVegas]

15. I Have Blue Cross

and never had to do anything like that.

[recoveringrepublican]

23. I have had BCBS for 9 years, have never had to show my BC nt.

[monmouth]

5. This is such an invasion of your privacy. I'd be asking "why?"..n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. They do not want to pay for the health care of people who are not married to their employees and

kids who are not the children of their employees.

[pnwmom]

8. We were asked to provide the front page of a tax return

with the numbers blocked out, but showing that we were filing as a married couple, and showing our dependents.

[woodsprite]

9. When I signed up for benefits 23 yrs ago, I was asked for the same

thing. A certified copy was all they needed to see, and they just needed to have someone initial the form that they saw the valid document. No copies are in our personnel/benefits folder.

Even now, though we do signup on line thru electronic forms, you still have to traipse down to the benefits office to show them the official document and have your application validated by someone in the office.

[gollygee]

10. This happened to us, but then they denied our 6-year-old daughter coverage

until we could prove she wasn't married and therefore didn't have coverage through a spouse. Yes, our 6-year-old. I kid you not.

We did get it cleared up. But it was stressful for a while.

[IdaBriggs]

11. Your 6 year old wasn't married?

:nuke:

I would love to hear more of this story! How long did it take to resolve???

[gollygee]

31. At first, my husband was furious and flipped out

They sent a letter of apology and took care of everything pretty quickly though. Just a stupid mistake. But the whole purpose of this exercise is to stop paying for health insurance for people. And thank goodness she didn't get hurt during that short time where we were figuring it out.

[Betty88]

12. This happened to me last year

It made everyone at work real mad. I had been there 9 years and my partner has been on my insurance since day one. My boss was livid, she has worked at the company for 40 years and has been married to the same guy for 30 of those. We all had to bring in the documents requested or risked our partners being cut off.

[donco6]

13. Odd. I run payroll for 600 and never heard of this. N/t

[psychmommy]

14. one of my co-workers got caught saying his wifey was his wife.

everything was good until they broke up. he wanted her off of the insurance but could provide no divorce decree. she being angry as heck was more than willing to spill the story about them not being married. he has lost his job and they both have to pay back 10s of thousands of dollars in insurance coverage. he will never be able to hold any state job. i don't know if criminal charges were filed. it is because of crap like this that folks are gonna have to pony up proof.

[suston96]

16. I believe that birth and marriage records are public records available to - uh, the public......nt

[HillWilliam]

19. They sure are

I'm an ordained minister and perform marriages all the time. Once in a great while, I forget to scan myself a copy of the marriage license so I've got complete documentation (it's not required; I just like to be complete). It costs me a quarter to get an unofficial copy from the Register of Deeds. The insurance company can do the same, or look it up online for free, or make a phone call for nothing. Public records are, well, public. Sounds to me like they're being obtuse.

[M0rpheus]

22. Honestly...

Would you trust your insurance company to make sure they had the correct marriage license/Birth certificate for "HillWilliam" if they had to get it themselves?
Would you bet your coverage on it?

[HillWilliam]

29. They

have SSAN's and SSAN's are on marriage licenses; there should be no excuse in that case. Birth certificates are obviously another case. I see no problem there. But asking for a marriage license or divorce decree on a six-year-old is beyond stupid.

Apparently common sense isn't.

And why shouldn't I be able to trust a business to do its business properly? The fact that we can't says something about American business. There is something decidedly wrong when citizens are expected to walk within finely-scribed-and-inked lines, yet businesess lose data, divulge extremely private information to unauthorized parties, make obscenely stupid and almost impossible-to-correct decisions, throw money down rat-holes, reward the incompetent, and punish the uninvolved.

Again, common sense isn't in the topsy-turvy, up-is-down, neoKKKon-driven, bizarro, right-wing world of the freep-market.

[M0rpheus]

33. I agree with you, hence my question.

With the mistakes the insurance companies make on a regular basis (which I deal with regularly), I wouldn't bet my coverage on them getting it right the first time. In my experience, Common sense and insurance rarely go together, as far as I'm concerned.

As far as divulging information to unauthorized parties. Your insurance company already has your SSN's, DOB's, your children's names and information on whatever ailments you've filed claims for over whatever time period.
If it's individual coverage, you provided them with all that information. If it's employee coverage, then your employer has given them all of that information, as you provided it to them.

If you're worried about ID theft from that angle, they already have all the information to do it without the additional documentation. And, by participating in the plan, you've already given your authorization, by their estimation.



I'm just telling you how it works from the Benefits Administrator perspective. Not how it "should" be.

[HillWilliam]

37. I know

From a programmer's/data analyst's perspective, I know they've got that information under their fingertips. Being somewhat idealistic (even at my age) and an experienced systems integrator, I still find no reason that they should have to irritate the customer further for documentation and information they either already have or could easily obtain. As a customer, I find it irritating that no matter what the situation is and no matter what documentation has already been provided to satisfy whatever demand has been made for today, tomorrow there will be some other excuse or impediment to service.

Such is the way of modern insurance. They will have little sympathy from me in any regard. I've worked too closely with and inside too many insurance data centers. Chaos would be a kind word. My sympathies do lie with the benefits administrators, however. I can't imagine having to work with the messes and pressures they're given.

[M0rpheus]

45. I do appreciate your sympathy.

On some days, I could use a triple helping.
:smoke:

[HillWilliam]

56. If most folks could see what we've seen from the "back side"

they'd be gathering up with pitchforks and rope. It's not the program administrators' fault and it's not the data administrators' fault that the systems are in such tangles. Thank the idjits on the upper floors who have contact with neither internal personnel (they're just the replaceable cogs in the great money-making wheel) nor the customers (that's beneath their exalted station).

Some of the atrocities in the programming code alone would frighten and appall "normal" programmers. Not just what the upstairs-idjits want stuck in. I'm talking about entrenched managerial incompetence that directed things be done a certain way against all programming best practice and all common sense. I swan, some companies hire the inept and feeble because they hire cheaply. The competent had best hush and stick with the herd -- or else. "Right to work" means right to get fired and blackballed if you dare breathe that someone's emperor might be nekkid.

[M0rpheus]

57. Oh the stories I could tell...

*He says as he sits at his desk in the building of Major Multinational HR Company, LLC.* :hide:

I won't complain for the moment, though. This is the quietest part of the year. Everything is set until January.

[marybourg]

58. No. Not any more, since the so-called "patriot act"

I'm not sure what you mean by the "records" being "public", but I can tell you you have to jump thru hoops now to obtain an actual certified copy, especially if you're a woman and have changed your surname. It took me 3 months to obtain my birth certificate because my father stopped using one form of his first name and started using another after I was born and they wouldn't give me the certificate until I guessed which one he used on my birth certificate. To obtain my marriage license, I had to know which county (of a 5 county city )the license had been issued in and swear, under penalty of perjury, that I had been the bride (in addition to sending a government issued photo ID).

[M0rpheus]

18. This is getting more common as health care coverage gets more expensive...

Usually it is a plan provision (i.e. the company providing the benefit makes the rule) to audit a small percentage (usually from 1-10%) of the population every year, for eligibility.
It may have been going on around you for quite some time without you knowing. It may be something that was just implemented this year
Check your summary plan description, for more information. There is probably some language to the effect of, "you may need to provide proof of dependent eligibility at our request".

The 'why' is mentioned in another post above me. People have added ineligible dependents to coverage, or continue to have dependents covered who are no longer eligible. Its not a huge problem (as I see it, anyway) but, it is enough of a problem that any change in coverage is prefaced with: "You understand that any fraudulent statement, falsification or, material omission of information my subject you to discipline. Up to, and including termination".

If you aren't sure that this is a legitimate request, contact the administrator of your plans. They will be able to verify what's needed and why.

The documentation requested is usually a *copy* of the documents in question, since those docs are not returned.
You may even be able to fax it to them rather than sending it by mail. If it is an option, the tax return is probably the most expedient, since it has it all in one place, and there isn't much 'extra' information that doesn't apply.

[michreject]

20. I mailed mine in Thursday

Been married for 13 yrs as well. My understanding is that it is an audit. I sent the marriage license and a credit card statement had both names and our address on it. I only sent a copy, not the original. And that is after I blacked out the acct info. They said that we could do that.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

24. I Fail To See What Can Possibly Be So Outrageous About Needing A Birth Ceritificate And Marriage

certificate for family insurance. Both are public docs and both are pretty directly related to what you're getting. Why they're asking for them now I don't know, but it's still perfectly benign and nothing worthy of outrage.

[Occulus]

25. Some birth certificates have incorrect information

Surnames and places of birth are two that are occasionally incorrect. Furthermore, some very elderly people have no birth certificate at all. I think some immigrants may be included in that category.

It is a very big deal to those categories of people, and I somehow doubt the health insurance company would say "oh, well, we guess it's okay just this once."

It wouldn't surprise me if, because I am adopted, I would need to provide some adoption certificate or other as well. I certainly wouldn't put it past these bloodsuckers.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. It's An Official Document And It Seems To Be A Perfectly Reasonable Request To Ask For Such As It

relates to insurance.

Some people just pick apart and complain about friggin everything.

[Gormy Cuss]

26. Good. Go right ahead and hand them over.

As for the "public" nature of such documents, it's increasingly difficult to obtain birth certificates for living (or presumed to be living) people unless one is seeking a copy of his/her own certificate or that of his/her own minor child. Such access changes have been implemented to increase privacy and decrease abuse through identity fraud.

For example, in your state here are instructions for obtaining modern VRs:

Identifying the non-genealogical record: You must be able to fully identify the record by providing all of the information listed below on the application form. Your request cannot be accepted unless you provide the information below.

* Full name on the record
* City where the event occurred
* Exact date of the event (month, day and year)
* Mother’s maiden name
* Father’s name (if recorded on the record)
* For Marriage, Civil Union or Domestic Partnership -- Instead of parents’ names, you must provide the name of the spouse/partner.

Acceptable Identification: You must provide acceptable ID in order to get a copy of any vital record. The following are acceptable forms of ID:

* A current, valid photo driver's license or photo non-driver's license
OR
* A current, valid driver’s license without photo and one alternate form of ID with current address
OR
* Two alternate forms of ID, one of which must have current address.

Alternate forms of ID are:

* Vehicle registration
* Vehicle insurance card
* Passport
* Voter registration
* Green card/Immigrant visa
* Federal/County ID
* School ID
* Court documents
* W-2 for current/previous tax year
* Utility/bank statement from within the last 90 days

People who are homeless can provide identification from a social worker or homeless shelter coordinator.

People who are incarcerated can provide legal imprisonment or release documents or identification from a prison/probation official.

Please do not send in original ID documents. Only copies are required.

Proof of Relationship: Proof of relationship is not required if you are asking for a certification, which is an uncertified informational copy of the vital record not valid for establishing identity or legal purposes. However, you must still provide proof of identity when requesting a certification.

To get a certified copy of a person’s vital record, you must provide proof of your relationship to the person listed on the record and the proof must establish you are one of the following:

* The subject of the record
* The subject’s parent, legal guardian or legal representative
* The subject’s spouse/civil union partner; child, grandchild or sibling, if of legal age
* A state or federal agency for official purposes
* Pursuant to court order

http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/nongenealogical.shtml

Note that even for a plain, uncertified copy of the record you must already know much of the information contained on it. NJ is far from alone in setting this standard.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

43. My MOM couldn't pick up a copy of my civil union license for me

Because she has a different last name from me. They weren't allowed to release it to her, because they didn't have proof she was really my mother. The person at the municipal building has known both my mother and I for over 15 years.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

30. Can you send me a copy of yours? Just looking to peruse public records...

:eyes:

[IdaBriggs]

42. Birth certificates are CONFIDENTIAL records.

According to my local county records department --

Birth Certificates *

*To protect you from identity theft, we require a copy of valid photo identification i.e. driver's license or state identification to be sent to our office. You may scan a copy of your valid identification and email it to us at [e-mail] or fax it to our office at [phone].
IMPORTANT: Your order will not be processed unless we receive proof of identity within two days.

If you do not possess valid photo identification you may order birth records from michigan.gov/mdch.

Birth Certificates are confidential records and are only available to the person or parent of the person named on that record. If you are a legal guardian, legal representative or an heir of the person, additional documentation is required and you cannot order online.

Marriage certificates are public records, but contain CONFIDENTIAL information (mother's maiden name, for example). Yes, someone can go down and pay to see it, but putting all of this information right next to our Social Security Numbers, etc. where anyone can toss it into a brief case, take it home, accidentally have someone else grab it, or put it in a non-secure location when files get cleaned/archived seems to me to be the height of stupid.

[Lex]

32. Anyone can get a copy of them anytime they want. Not private documents.

nt

[Ilsa]

35. Yep. Hubby had to send in his expired passport.

He travels internationally, and is renewing it, but HR wanted proof of his citizenship even though he has been with the company 12 years.

[suninvited]

36. At my work, many of the employees have wives with different last names

it is our company policy that as long as an employee uses the word "spouse" or "wife" under the relationship column that we take them at their word, and cover them.

I think it is a company policy, not a BCBS policy.

[LuckyLib]

38. This is sexist, homophobic, and an attempt to weed out percieved "illegals".

Ask to see all "laws" that make this a requirement, and raise hell. Some mid-level bureaucrat put this in the rules book, and of course, no one questioned it. I don't give out this info to nobody. None of their damned business. They aren't protecting anybody except their own southern-fried bigotry.

[Liberal_in_LA]

39. never heard of such a request

[bermudat]

40. I have never heard of that before.

My spouse and I have different surnames, but it has never been a problem. Does he work for a large

company or a small company? Shouldn't really matter though. Sounds like the company has been burned

with insurance fraud in the past.

[madmom]

41. My So is retired from GM, we've been married 35 years, I just recently had to

prove I was an eligible dependent by sending a copy of our fed income tax form showing we filed jointly.

[michreject]

44. I sent a credit card statement

They don't need to see my tax returns.

[madmom]

48. I blacked out everything except the top part so they didn't get any info other than what they needed

[gravity]

46. It prevents you from giving free insurance to a friend.

Those documents are reasonable to asks for family insurance policy.

[JuniperLea]

47. That has been fairly standard for years

Due to insurance fraud.

[DrZeeLit]

49. We've been married for almost 12 years and my husband's company has twice asked for copy of our

marriage license -- to verify insurance coverage.

For the first 5 years, he was on my insurance.
Then we moved and I no longer taught. We went on his insurance completely.
We didn't balk at the first request, since we did need to establish the connection.

But at the second one, a few years later, we wondered why they "lost" the information.
He talked to a rep and got it straightened out, but we could never figure what was "up."

I never thought of identity theft then, but your comment sure do ring with some concern that I am now considering, too.

These days, you just can't be too careful.

[qwlauren35]

50. Usually I'm asked for proof of citizenship.

Either a birth certificate or a passport, and have been for every engineering job I've held in the last 20 years.

I just never bothered to ask.

If Obama goes after employers who hire illegal aliens, you can expect more "carding" in the future. Their businesses will depend on it.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

51. They are going to this next year where I work too...

It seems kind of rude... like they distrust their own employees.

[ColbertWatcher]

52. I found this general reference, but ...

... you'd probably want to check for your particular state.

http://labor-employment-law.lawyers.com/human-resources-law/Employer-Job-Applicant-and-Interview-FAQs.html#three

Still looking...

[bobbolink]

53. If you're poor, you have to submit those things just to get subsidized housing.

Never mind the cost of providing a certified birth certificate for every damned agency that wants one!

But, if you're poor, you have no choice.

At least it sounds like you have a choice... we comply or else.

[Lifetimedem]

55. We had to provide

proof as well this year.

Usually when something like this happens it is some new regulation

[proud patriot]

59. I work for a school district and had to provide both

a birth certificate for my son and a marriage license
for my husband to be covered under my health plan .

[madmunchie]

60. Give them a copy with all pertinent information blacked out.....