Response to Comments
Application for Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance)
CMS 18F5 (0938-0251)
Comment: I'd like to point out an issue with the question on the CMS-18FS asking for the applicant's name at birth. For transgender people such a question essentially forces most of them to out themselves, so as an activist for the transgender community I think the purpose of the question should be evaluated, and if possible an alternate means of asking should be considered (or the question made optional).If the purpose is to match to the applicant's birth certificate, it should ask for the name as it appears on the birth certificate. Many transgender people have their birth certificates amended to show the new name and gender. If the purpose is to have a "constant name" not likely to change again, then there ought to be a distinction between names changed due to marriage (subject to changing again due to divorce and/or remarriage, and does not amend one's birth certificate) and those for reasons that are unlikely to be reverted or changed again (e.g. adoption, naturalization, gender change, etc.).Also, the "sex" field does not take into account that some states and federal agencies now allow the choice of an "X" or "Non-Binary" sex designation.
Response: We appreciate the suggestion for CMS to change the question on the form pertaining to name at birth. We have taken your comment into consideration and updated the question to ask for the individuals name as it appears on their birth certificate. We also considered your suggestion about updating the “sex” field to include “X” or “Non-Binary” under the sex designation. All of the data currently collected on the forms is necessary to enroll an individual in Medicare Part B, and any additional information will require coordination with SSA and system enhancements. Therefore, we will take these comments into consideration for future development. For this reason, we decline to adopt the commenters suggestion in this iteration of changes to the CMS-18F5 form.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Patterson, Carla (CMS/CM) |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2024-09-06 |