To ensure that a non-custodial parent will not benefit from the settlement of an insurance claim while his or her child support arrears go unpaid.

Before making payment on a claim of $500 or more, an insurance company licensed to do business in Massachusetts must check with the Department of Revenue (DOR) to determine whether a claimant or beneficiary owes unpaid child support. If child support is owed, the insurance company pays all bills associated with the claim, then sends DOR the funds in full or partial satisfaction of the child support debt. Any remaining funds are sent to the insured party.

DOR understood early on that it was necessary to give insurers a simple and quick method for determining if claimants had unpaid child support. With input from the insurance industry, DOR developed a process to allow insurance companies to comply with the statute without disrupting their business practices. The result is DOR's secure insurance intercept Website, which works as follows:

The statute allows service providers to be paid before DOR and the claimant. If the insurance company, e.g. does not know who all the service providers are (physicians, physical therapists, automotive repair shops) they are instructed to send all monies to the claimant's attorney with the appropriate notification forms with copies to DOR. An audit of 100 of these attorneys, randomly selected, was carried out by DOR's insurance intercept team last summer. The results indicated an almost perfect rate of compliance and understanding of the process. A small group of insurance companies are monitored monthly. In the case of an unsatisfactory audit, the company is contacted, asked to provide a remedial plan and warned of possible consequences of non compliance (responsibility for funds not remitted to DOR).

Finally, the Website allows DOR to display the updated intercept collections amount each month on the site - a good reminder to insurers that their efforts produce tangible results. The Website also allows us to contact them immediately and economically when we need to get information out to them quickly.

Almost $11 million has been collected since the Department of Revenue (DOR) implemented its insurance intercept program in May, 1998.

Statewide

DOR is willing to share its insurance intercept Website programming information with other states interested in starting sites of their own. DOR's insurance intercept program, with its user-friendly Website, has been well received by the insurance industry which originally feared and opposed it. The program's benefits are many: children receive the support due them, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts recoups public assistance funds, and taxpayers benefit.

Additional information is available at http://www.cse.state.ma.us/programs/icpip/icpipguide.htm

or by calling Diana Obbard at (617) 626-4163 [diana.p.obbard@state.ma.us] or Brad Kramer at (617) 626-4161 [brad.kramer@state.ma.us]