How many times have you gone into a doctors office and before they do anything you have to first provide all of your insurance information?That in itself is not so bad but when they say that they need to make a copy of your drivers license, that is totally preposterous. Should you ask why, the office employee (never the doctor) will say that it is needed for “proper identification”. Identification of what? “There are people out there who impersonate other people and we want to make certain that no one takes away any of your benefits.” Or, “We need it for our records.” Whatever excuse they give you, there is absolutely no reason other than it helps them to locate you, should you become a deadbeat. There are no legal or medical reasons that require you to provide them with a copy of your drivers license and that includes Medicare as well.

You may say, “What’s the big deal. I have nothing to hide.” The big deal is this. Your drivers license has not only your signature on it but also your picture. Think about it. Once someone has that it’s only a short step to being able to forge a check in your name or better yet, steal your identity. You don’t think it can happen in a doctors office? Get real. It can happen anywhere. You don’t know who the doctors employees are or who they hang out with.

So how do you get around not providing a copy of your DL? It’s easy. Just say that you don’t drive or that you forgot it when you got up this morning. “I’ve already let you make copies of my insurance cards, so what else do you need? The phone numbers are on there so you can call them to verify that the coverage is in effect.” Period. Most of the time they will say, “Okay. But make sure that you bring it in next time.” If for some reason that does not work, go somewhere else. That’s what I’ve done in the past. Or you can say, “I’ll show you my DL but you can’t make a copy of it because you don’t need it for medical reasons.”

The same goes for signatures on credit cards. About forty years ago I stopped putting my signature on my credit cards. Why? Because if I should lose a credit card with my signature on it, I would leave myself open to having my signature forged. If I should lose a credit card with no signature on it, then whoever finds it would have to be creative and come up with a new signature that would not resemble mine, therefore providing me some protection because my signature would have to be completely fabricated. I don’t know if this practice began with me but I do know that there are a lot of people who now do the same. Many establishments are aware of this practice and all they do is to simply ask to see a “picture ID”, at which time you show them your DL.

Remember, it’s not the establishment that is looking to rip you off. The business that you are dealing with, the doctor’s office or anyone for that matter, is not out to get you and risk losing a client in the process. But there is no way that they can vouch for all of their employees all of the time and that is where the risk lies when you divulge private information which includes your signature and your photograph.