Today we tried to get Rosie a replacement social security card, because her other card has disappeared.
I keep all of our social security cards together in our file folder of important papers in an envelope, but somehow Rosie’s isn’t there anymore. Neither of us can remember taking it out, and a crazy search of every nook and cranny in the entire house turned up nothing. I just saw it last year when I had to get out Tyler’s social security card. Mystery where it could have gone!
We need her social security card so I can sign Ada up for whatever insurance the government offers. They told me I can’t just apply for coverage for Ada, I have to provide documentation for every member of our family and apply for all of the benefits they offer instead of just the insurance coverage.
And…the reason we need insurance for Ada in the first place is due to the fact that our crappy insurance company refused to automatically add her to our plan because she was born at home. We couldn’t provide her birth certificate and social security number in the 30 day window they gave us, because she was born at home it took until June for us to get her social security card and birth certificate in the mail! She was born in April. We had to present proof of her live birth and be approved by a certain woman in the vital statistics office, then wait for her to fill out paper work, then wait for her to send it to the correct departments, etc. The government is slow! If you have a baby in the hospital this is all automatically done for you…
So Ada has no health insurance until we can get Rosie’s social security card, or until July when our insurance will add her during open enrollment.
I looked up the info needed to get Rosie a new copy of her card. This is what the site says:
To get a replacement card, you will need to:
- Complete an Application For A Social Security Card (Form SS-5);
- Present a recently issued document to show your identity;
- Show evidence of your U.S. citizenship if you were born outside the United States and did not show proof of citizenship when you got your card; and
- Show evidence of your current lawful noncitizen status if you are not a U.S. citizen.
Your replacement card will have the same name and number as your previous card.
That sounds simple enough, right?
So we took her birth certificate and went to the office.
First of all, the waiting room was packed full of people…people that looked like they slept on a park bench last night. It stunk like urine and smoke. We took a number and waited half an hour.
Finally they called our number. The lady was so rude. She said that a birth certificate is not enough identification, anyone can get a birth certificate she said. She did verify that Rosie’s social security number matched her name in their government database, but that wasn’t good enough either. She gave us this list of things we can provide to show proof. Apparently we need an immunization record, a hep. B vaccination record from her birth, the hearing test record from her newborn screen, records from her daycare, records from her school, school ID, or her health insurance card as long as it wasn’t state health insurance.
I had her health insurance card in my bag, out in the car. Could she wait a second while I ran to grab it? No, no of course not. We had to go get it, which took one second because we were parked right by the door, and then take another number and wait in that disgusting waiting room for another half an hour for them to call our number again.
When it was our turn we presented the health care card with Rosie’s name on it.
Sorry, that’s not enough information.
It didn’t have her birthday. See, the list there says items must have the birthday on them. The copy she gave us was so faint that we couldn’t hardly read it and had missed that statement. She told us to come back with one of the other items on the list that includes her birthday and full name.
Great.
What a waste of my afternoon!
I don’t know what to do now.
Rosie isn’t vaccinated, so she has no immunization record or Hep. B record. She doesn’t go to daycare or to school, so she has no records or ID. Her health insurance card isn’t sufficient apparently. That leaves the newborn hearing test record…I wonder if I can find that? I hope it has her birthday on it. If it doesn’t, then what do I do?
I’m really paranoid now–if we lose Ada’s social security card she’ll never get another! She didn’t have the newborn screening because she wasn’t born in a hospital. She has absolutely none of the things on that list for proof.
I’m so frustrated with governments and insurance companies and all of this red tape. Why does everything have to be so incredibly drawn out and difficult? If only I had my babies in the hospital, then my paperwork would be instantly done for me and the insurance company wouldn’t have to be difficult. If only I vaccinated my kids and sent them to daycare or school, then I would have lots of records to provide the government…
Humph.
PS:
5/365
My girls in the cool morning light filtering in the bedroom window, right before leaving for the social security office.
Tags: 365, idiocy, rants, sister love
We just finally filed for Isaac’s SSN- after being sent away b/c of the no health records issue as well. I brought in a copy of his blessing certificate and a print out from the SS website that said that was a legitimate form of ID (the first time the lady said it wasn’t good enough- even though I KNEW the website said it was). I told them it was for a naming ceremony- and I guess they have a box for “naming ceremony” document. It worked at least.
Good heavens – sounds like a huge big mess :(
Makes me feel a little better about our archaic systems here.
Hope you get it sorted out – these things also tend to stress me out!
What a frustrating day! If your dr. is supportive, could you get a blank immunization record? I am assuming they want to see that yellow one. If you can get one with her name and birthdate on the front, but that is just blank inside, that would still work, right? Not like a drive to the dr. is convenient, but maybe it is an idea?
so frustrating! I assume there are reasons for the red tape but I really can’t fathom them.
I deal with the social security office on a daily basis and I know what a pain it can be to work with a government bureaucracy. (Especially with rude and grumpy people.) But, you do have to remember why they usually have that attitude. It is because they are constantly dealing with a large majority of people who want everything to be done for them and won’t help themselves. I think they end up giving no one a break because they are frustrated and tired of people who contribute nothing to the system and expect a lot in return and who won’t follow the process necessary to get the free help! I’m sure in other states where home birth is more accepted and more common, there are resources or they have developed a process that works and is more timely than the system we have here. I’ve known three people who have given birth at home in Utah and New York State and they haven’t had any problems adding children to health insurance. Perhaps now that you’ve had to do the research and know the time limitations, necessary forms and documents required, you could do a tutorial for those of us living in Kentucky that don’t know what to do. As we have all learned, information empowers us to change what we know isn’t right and to blaze the obstacles standing in the way of what we need!
Also, I just looked at the social security website. You can show any of the following records, but they must have identifying biographical information on them:
Adoption decree;
Doctor, clinic or hospital record;
Religious record (e.g., baptismal record);
Daycare center or school record; or
School identification card.
Here is the link…check it out.
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ss5doc/
I know, that’s the same link we looked at and the same print-out she gave us. I just hate to waste another afternoon back there! Ugh!
I second the blank vaccine record. Our public health office here in Washington state just sends them out so I am guessing you should be able to get one from the public health office. Or if it does not matter what state its from you are more than welcome to have one of mine =]
What about your medical records that took you forever to get from the OB, wouldn’t they have Rosie’s name and birthday on those? Or could you call the pedi and get a copy of the records they had?
This sounds so frustrating for you to deal with though! How long until open enrollment? It sounds like you will get there before you finish dealing with the government.
Open enrollment is in July, but we were thinking the same thing. By the time we get it all figured out with the government we’d be into July anyway. The hearing test is hopefully in those medical records that took forever to get.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!