Will I be Fined if I don't Give my Health Insurance Provider my SSN?

December 11, 2015 11:51 AM

My health insurance provider wants my social security number. Do I need to give it to them?

I've always avoided giving anyone (other than the IRS) my social security number. My health insurance provider (Regence Blue Cross) just sent me a letter stating

To avoid confusion, the IRS requires us to send the SSN for each member. We are required by the IRS to reach out to your before the end of the year to obtain the social security number. [...]. Per the IRS, you must provide a SSN [...] or you may be subject to a $50 penalty imposed by the IRS.

Is this true? Has the IRS officially blessed health insurance providers using SSN as a personally identifying piece of information? Or is this just folks at my insurance provider stretching the facts to make their lives easier?

posted by alana to Law & Government (5 answers total)

https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Questions-and-Answers-about-Reporting-Social-Security-Numbers-to-Your-Health-Insurance-Company

Q1. My health insurance company has requested that I provide them with my social security number and the social security numbers of my spouse and children. Is there some new reason why they need our social security numbers?
A1. Your health insurance company will be required to provide Form 1095-B to you and to the Internal Revenue Service. You will use the form to prepare your individual income tax return. The law requires SSNs to be reported on Form 1095-B.

Q2: Why is my health insurance company asking for this information now?
A2: The new reporting requirement will begin for the 2015 tax year and health insurance companies need advance time to program and test systems to make certain that this new reporting is done correctly and efficiently.

posted by erst at 11:53 AM on December 11, 2015 [8 favorites]

I am a benefits admin - I am not your benefits admin.

At my work we recently did a project to get all the missing SSNs for all dependents who were enrolled in medical but had no SSN listed (all employees had their own SSNs already loaded). This was a new Health Care Reform requirement as of this year - the government wants to see that you had coverage, and the easiest way for them to confirm that is by matching your SSN to the statement from the insurance company/employer/etc that yes there was coverage.

On preview, link above answers it.
posted by agress at 11:54 AM on December 11, 2015 [4 favorites]

Your Health Insurance Company May Ask for Your Social Security Number
posted by andrewcooke at 11:55 AM on December 11, 2015

Regarding the penalty:

Public Law 111-148 added IRC §§ 6055 and 6056 to the definition of information returns. IRC §§ 6721 and 6722 impose penalties for failure to include all information or incorrect information on information returns. IRC §6724 provides that no penalty may be imposed if any failure is due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect. TIN solicitation rules for acting in a responsible manner are described in Treas. Reg. 301.6724-1(d) and the rules for missing TINs are described in Treas. Reg. 301.6724-(1)(e). The required manner of making solicitations includes a requirement that payees must be informed that they may be subject to a $50 penalty imposed by the Internal Revenue Service under §6723 if they fail to provide a TIN. Insurance companies report significant questions being raised when notification is made to customers about this penalty. [emphasis added]

posted by melissasaurus at 12:12 PM on December 11, 2015

The ACA requires you to have a health insurance policy, and your SSN is the only way it can be verified that you have a policy. Thus, your insurer will request your SSN.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:10 AM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]