Government discourages laminating Medicare cards

Question: Is it OK to laminate your Medicare and HMSA cards? These cards are required when we register at the Medical Group and for lab tests. The Medicare card is also used to verify Social Security numbers.

Answer: HMSA says it’s OK to laminate your card.

However, both the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Centers for Medi-care and Medicaid Services advise against laminating Social Security and Medi-care cards, although it is not illegal and doing so will not invalidate the cards.

"While it isn’t recommended, there is no penalty for doing so," said Sharon Y. Yee, of Medicare’s Region IX office.

She provided a link to a Social Security Administration bulletin — is.gd/fFOLp7 — that says lost or damaged Medicare cards "are easily replaced online at no charge."

(Go to www.socialsecurity.gov, click on "Numbers & Cards," then on "Replacement Medicare card." A replacement card will be mailed in about 30 days.)

Meanwhile, Jane Yamamoto-Burigsay, Social Security spokeswoman in Hawaii, said the administration "DOES NOT want people to laminate the Social Security cards."

She pointed to the Social Security website is.gd/kWelcX. It says, "Laminated cards make it difficult, if not impossible, to detect important security features and an employer may refuse to accept it."

It goes on to say, "The Social Security Act requires the Commissioner of Social Security to issue cards that cannot be counterfeited. We incorporate many features that protect the card’s integrity. That includes highly specialized paper and printing techniques — some visible to the naked eye and some not. Further, we continue to actively explore and adopt new technologies that hamper duplication."

The administration also advises keeping Social Security cards in a safe place: "Do not carry it with you."

Question: We had to hire a lawyer to go to Probate Court to access a deceased relative’s bank account. We found out that this relative had siblings, now deceased, and we needed to get those siblings’ children’s names, addresses and contact numbers. If those children were deceased, we needed to get the grandchildren’s names, addresses and contact numbers. We did get all 17 names, addresses and numbers. Then the lawyer tells us the court is now asking for the death certificates of all the deceased siblings, deceased siblings’ children AND deceased parents of this deceased relative — NINE death certificates. (This relative was born in 1925, never married.) Are we getting the runaround, or is this normal proceedings in Probate Court? Where can we file a complaint?

Answer: Asking for all that documentation is not unusual and is part of the probate process.

"Death certificates are commonly filed in probate cases as a means of proving an heir has passed," said Tammy Mori, spokeswoman for the state Judiciary.

However, depending on the circumstances and other documents submitted, a death certificate may not be required if it can’t be found.

In other words, it is not the only option that may be accepted.

Mori pointed to a state law — Section 560:3-301 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes on "Informal Probate and Appointment Proceedings" — that "requires that the names and addresses of a decedent’s heirs be included in an application for appointment of a personal representative."

She said it is not unusual for an application to contain a long list of surviving heirs, especially if the decedent comes from a large family.

"While providing information during the informal probate procedure may be burdensome to the applicant, it is necessary to meet the requirements of the law and to ensure proper protections," Mori said. "Questionable or incomplete applications are at greater risk of being rejected, which leaves the petitioner with the option of presenting the matter before a judge via the formal probate process, which may be more time consuming and costly."

Anyone with questions about the probate process can call the Judiciary’s public affairs office at 539-4909.

Write to "Kokua Line" at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.