Buildings Partnerships with Insurers to Improve the Lives of Children

STATE OF NEBRASKA

DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE

Ann M. Frohman

Director

Dave Heineman

Governor

941 O Street • Suite 400 • Lincoln, Nebraska 68508-3639 • Phone (402) 471-2201 • Facsimile (402) 471-4610

http://www.doi.ne.gov

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

August 18, 2008

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BULLETIN

SUBJECT: BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS WITH INSURERS TO IMPROVE

THE LIVES OF CHILDREN

The intent of this Bulletin is to inform you of an insurance match initiative available with

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The goal is to identify those

individuals who are delinquent in their child support payments before these individuals

receive any insurance proceeds.

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is seeking innovative leaders

from the insurance industry to partner with them in a new initiative, the Insurance Match

Program.

Overview – Child Support Enforcement

The goal of the Child Support Enforcement Program is to ensure that children receive

financial and emotional support from both parents. Designed as a joint Federal, State and

local partnership, the child support program involves 54 States, territories and tribes, each

with its own unique laws and procedures. States administer the child support program

while the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides funding and technical

assistance to States through OCSE.

OCSE assists States in performing collection and enforcement services by working closely

with other Federal agencies and the private sector including financial institutions,

employers, and most recently, insurance companies.

Legal Foundation – Insurance Matching

In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation

Act, more commonly known as welfare reform

OCSE assists States in performing collection and enforcement services by working closely

with other Federal agencies and the private sector including financial institutions,

employers, and most recently, insurance companies.

Legal Foundation – Insurance Matching

In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation

Act, more commonly known as welfare reform. States passed corresponding laws providing

State Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agencies with the authority to issue administrative

subpoenas to collect financial or other information needed to establish, enforce or modify a

child support order (42 U.S.C. sections 652(a)(11), 654(a)(9)(E), 666(c)).

State CSE agencies can obtain access, subject to privacy safeguards, to government and

private records, including information about assets held by financial institutions (including

insurance companies), and records held by private entities with respect to individuals who

owe child support (42 U.S.C. 666(c)1D).

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he OCSE Insurance Match Program

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Section 7306 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 amended Section 452 of the Social

Security Act to authorize comparisons of information concerning individuals owing past-due

child support with information maintained by insurers (or their agents) concerning

insurance claims, settlements, awards, and payments as outlined in the legislative

anguage below:

l

l) COMPARISONS WITH INSURANCE INFORMATION.

(

(1) IN GENERAL, The Secretary, through the Federal Parent Locator Service, may—

(A) compare information concerning individuals owing past-due support with

information maintained by insurers (or their agents) concerning insurance claims,

settlements, awards, and payments; and

(B) furnish information resulting from the data matches to the State agencies

responsible for collecting child support from the individuals.

The Secretary, through the Federal Parent Locator Service, may—

(A) compare information concerning individuals owing past-due support with

information maintained by insurers (or their agents) concerning insurance claims,

settlements, awards, and payments; and

(B) furnish information resulting from the data matches to the State agencies

responsible for collecting child support from the individuals.

(2) LIABILITY An insurer (including any agent of an insurer) shall not be liable under

any Federal or State law to any person for any disclosure provided for under this

subsection, or for any other action taken in good faith in accordance with this subsection.

To streamline the insurance match process and reduce the burden on insurers, OCSE

designed, developed and implemented an efficient, cost effective and centralized Insurance

Match Program and is providing insurance match data to State CSE agencies. Insurers (or

their agents) may voluntarily participate in the OCSE Insurance Match Program using one

of t

se

he

methods:

ƒ

Send insurance claims data to OCSE for comparison with individuals delinquent in

their child support obligations (claims that do not match will be discarded

immediately); or

ƒ

Receive an electronic file from OCSE of individuals delinquent in their child support

obligations for comparison with insurance claims, payments, settlements and

awards, and return the matches to OCSE; or

ƒ

Authorize an agent (e.g., Insurance Service Office [ISO] or third party processor) to

work with OCSE to conduct the data match on behalf of the insurer.

The Insurance Match Program is expected to make a significant difference in the lives of

millions of children. The more insurers participating, the more difference the program will

ake.

m

To join the Insurance Match Program or obtain additional information, contact the Office of

hild Support Enforcement at: insurancematch@acf.hhs.gov.

C

Ann M. Frohman

Director

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