Author Topic: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?  (Read 22724 times)

Metric Mouse

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Re: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?
« Reply #50 on: November 15, 2016, 11:20:11 AM »

In the most straight forward way I can answer this; yes, guardians are (fiscally) responsible for their dependents. Were you asking this in a hypothetical way? even if they are insured you are still responsible for co-pays/deductibles.

No, I understand if I put them on my insurance then I, as the policy holder, owe for the bills + copays etc.  I was thinking hypothetically, if one were able to have a hospital treat their child like an uninsured person and rack up medical bills that the child was obviously unable to pay.

protostache

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Re: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?
« Reply #51 on: November 15, 2016, 11:32:24 AM »

In the most straight forward way I can answer this; yes, guardians are (fiscally) responsible for their dependents. Were you asking this in a hypothetical way? even if they are insured you are still responsible for co-pays/deductibles.

No, I understand if I put them on my insurance then I, as the policy holder, owe for the bills + copays etc.  I was thinking hypothetically, if one were able to have a hospital treat their child like an uninsured person and rack up medical bills that the child was obviously unable to pay.

Before they'll treat you they make you sign a billing consent form for either yourself or your minor dependent. That form says you acknowledge that you're responsible for any bills not covered by insurance.

Metric Mouse

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Re: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?
« Reply #52 on: November 15, 2016, 12:21:18 PM »

In the most straight forward way I can answer this; yes, guardians are (fiscally) responsible for their dependents. Were you asking this in a hypothetical way? even if they are insured you are still responsible for co-pays/deductibles.

No, I understand if I put them on my insurance then I, as the policy holder, owe for the bills + copays etc.  I was thinking hypothetically, if one were able to have a hospital treat their child like an uninsured person and rack up medical bills that the child was obviously unable to pay.

Before they'll treat you they make you sign a billing consent form for either yourself or your minor dependent. That form says you acknowledge that you're responsible for any bills not covered by insurance.

Ahh. I have insurance, obviously, so I haven't had to deal with such a situation. Too much privilege, I suppose.

protostache

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Re: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?
« Reply #53 on: November 15, 2016, 12:33:07 PM »

In the most straight forward way I can answer this; yes, guardians are (fiscally) responsible for their dependents. Were you asking this in a hypothetical way? even if they are insured you are still responsible for co-pays/deductibles.

No, I understand if I put them on my insurance then I, as the policy holder, owe for the bills + copays etc.  I was thinking hypothetically, if one were able to have a hospital treat their child like an uninsured person and rack up medical bills that the child was obviously unable to pay.

Before they'll treat you they make you sign a billing consent form for either yourself or your minor dependent. That form says you acknowledge that you're responsible for any bills not covered by insurance.

Ahh. I have insurance, obviously, so I haven't had to deal with such a situation. Too much privilege, I suppose.

We have insurance too. Every time we've been in the ER or in triage when my wife was pregnant we've had to sign one. I'm sure we had to sign one the first time we went to a clinic in our health system as well. It basically says that I give them the right to bill my insurance and if they decline coverage then I'm responsible for it, so I'm sure they have a similar form if you don't hand them an insurance card.

arebelspy

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Re: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?
« Reply #54 on: November 15, 2016, 04:27:59 PM »
As the guardian, it is precisely your responsibility to decide what is best for the child, and make decisions on their behalf.  That's what being a parent (or, more precisely, guardian) is.

What happens when a form at the doctor's office requires it? 
Sounds like a doctor's office is running a scam.

it should be with their insurance, which is yours, and unless the doctors office is planning to come after them for debt collections they don't need it, in which case would be pretty wild since you are their guardian; ergo fiscally responsible for them.

nah, SSN is only for tax returns and that is just to claim them as a dependent. I kinda feel bad every year for even doing that.

Huh?

Even for traditional married two-parent families, the parents can and do have different insurance than their kids.  (For example, my husband's employer won't allow me to be on a plan with him, so we are needing to choose between all of us on my higher cost plan, or he & the baby on his high deductible plan.  Odds are, I'll be taking the baby in to many appointments by myself - and we are likely to have different insurances.)

Also, insurance bills/codes based on the patient that they see.  If they see the kid, they are billing the insurance based on the kid not the parent.  This is likely why they request the SSN, for coding & identification, rather than for debt collections.

The only places that should be requesting an SSN are the SSA, the IRS, the State department when ordering a passport, banks when opening an account (because they have to report to the IRS) and health insurance companies, Medicaid, and healthcare.gov (because they have to report to the IRS). That's it. If anyone else asks they are either ignorant or running a scam. A doctor's office should just be asking for insurance information because they can just call the insurance company to verify your coverage.
You assume everyone has insurance.

They want it so they can send debt collectors after you if you don't pay.

I'd think they'd want it even if you had insurance, for if it's not covered, or if you didn't pay certain deductibles or copays or something.

EDIT: Missed the next page. Yep. That form. Then they'd want your SSN to record the debt. How do you think so many people have medical debt on their credit report?  Clearly they had to give their SSN at some point.

Which could include their child's SSN. For a responsible parent, this shouldn't be a problem for the child. For a non-responsible parent, the child has many other problems, this is a relatively minor one (great pun, arebelspy!).
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Metric Mouse

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Re: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?
« Reply #55 on: November 19, 2016, 10:53:03 AM »

In the most straight forward way I can answer this; yes, guardians are (fiscally) responsible for their dependents. Were you asking this in a hypothetical way? even if they are insured you are still responsible for co-pays/deductibles.

No, I understand if I put them on my insurance then I, as the policy holder, owe for the bills + copays etc.  I was thinking hypothetically, if one were able to have a hospital treat their child like an uninsured person and rack up medical bills that the child was obviously unable to pay.

Before they'll treat you they make you sign a billing consent form for either yourself or your minor dependent. That form says you acknowledge that you're responsible for any bills not covered by insurance.

Ahh. I have insurance, obviously, so I haven't had to deal with such a situation. Too much privilege, I suppose.

We have insurance too. Every time we've been in the ER or in triage when my wife was pregnant we've had to sign one. I'm sure we had to sign one the first time we went to a clinic in our health system as well. It basically says that I give them the right to bill my insurance and if they decline coverage then I'm responsible for it, so I'm sure they have a similar form if you don't hand them an insurance card.

Interesting. Now I'm just picturing ways to avoid paying for medical care. (Purely as a mental exercise; I have no reason to not pay the small fee for any care I am likely to require)

MidWestLove

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Re: Giving SSN of your child to a grandparent?
« Reply #56 on: November 19, 2016, 11:02:48 AM »
What we discovered is that in some places SSN is mandatory - i.e. you want child covered on health insurance, our employer requires child name , date of birth, and SSN. Hospitals/doctors offices have child name on the bills and parents (in our cases) to pay the bill. so there would be a lot of places where you will not get far without being able to give this information.

as for grandparents, my in-laws asked as well so our daughters would be beneficiaries of 529. As others said, I trust them and am thankful for help with college.