Customer Service and Billing
UNM Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) is interested in your questions, comments, and suggestions. You may contact us by phone or email.
Privacy
Your insurance company may be better at protecting your privacy than you think—but you'll never know if you don't ask. Always call your insurance company directly for this type of questions.
EOBs are the documents your insurance company sends out that show the basic information about anything your plan helped cover during that statement period, from prescription costs to hospital payments. For those without a health policy background, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is designed to protect an individual’s health privacy, but HIPAA rules allow EOBs to go to the “primary enrollee” of an insurance plan (a.k.a. parents) for billing purposes—as long as only necessary information is included. Different insurance companies have different interpretations of exactly what information is necessary, so EOBs vary in detail from one company to the next.
Not every insurance company will allow information to be withheld from the person purchasing the plan. In fact, laws can vary state-by-state, so some states might be more protective of your information than others. When it comes to EOBs, federal privacy regulations require insurers to honor a patient’s request that they not disclose confidential information only if releasing the information would put the patient in danger.
Make sure to cover these key points, too:
Where the EOBs are sent
Whether there is online access to the insurance account
Whether names or locations of providers are included in the EOB
Whether your parents can request information about your healthcare without your permission
And confirm that you’re totally safe with these questions:
“Is there any way my parents can see details about what services I’m receiving?”
“Can my parents see any information about me on the insurance website?”
“Can my parents see where I received treatment?”
