qualified employer
(12) Disclosure of certain taxpayer identity information for verification of employment status of medicare beneficiary and spouse of medicare beneficiary (A) Return information from Internal Revenue Service The Secretary shall, upon written request from the Commissioner of Social Security, disclose to the Commissioner available filing status and taxpayer identity information from the individual master files of the Internal Revenue Service relating to whether any medicare beneficiary identified by the Commissioner was a married individual (as defined in section 7703) for any specified year after 1986, and, if so, the name of the spouse of such individual and such spouse’s TIN. (B) Return information from Social Security Administration The Commissioner of Social Security shall, upon written request from the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, disclose to the Administrator the following information: (i) The name and TIN of each medicare beneficiary who is identified as having received wages (as defined in section 3401(a) ), above an amount (if any) specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, from a qualified employer in a previous year. (ii) For each medicare beneficiary who was identified as married under subparagraph (A) and whose spouse is identified as having received wages, above an amount (if any) specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, from a qualified employer in a previous year— (I) the name and TIN of the medicare beneficiary, and (II) the name and TIN of the spouse. (iii) With respect to each such qualified employer, the name, address, and TIN of the employer and the number of individuals with respect to whom written statements were furnished under section 6051 by the employer with respect to such previous year. (C) Disclosure by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services With respect to the information disclosed under subparagraph (B), the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may disclose— (i) to the qualified employer referred to in such subparagraph the name and TIN of each individual identified under such subparagraph as having received wages from the employer (hereinafter in this subparagraph referred to as the “employee”) for purposes of determining during what period such employee or the employee’s spouse may be (or have been) covered under a group health plan of the employer and what benefits are or were covered under the plan (including the name, address, and identifying number of the plan), (ii) to any group health plan which provides or provided coverage to such an employee or spouse, the name of such employee and the employee’s spouse (if the spouse is a medicare beneficiary) and the name and address of the employer, and, for the purpose of presenting a claim to the plan— (I) the TIN of such employee if benefits were paid under title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to the employee during a period in which the plan was a primary plan (as defined in section 1862(b)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act), and (II) the TIN of such spouse if benefits were paid under such title with respect to the spouse during such period, and (iii) to any agent of such Administrator the information referred to in subparagraph (B) for purposes of carrying out clauses (i) and (ii) on behalf of such Administrator. (D) Special rules (i) Restrictions on disclosure Information may be disclosed under this paragraph only for purposes of, and to the extent necessary in, determining the extent to which any medicare beneficiary is covered under any group health plan. (ii) Timely response to requests Any request made under subparagraph (A) or (B) shall be complied with as soon as possible but in no event later than 120 days after the date the request was made. (E) Definitions For purposes of this paragraph— (i) Medicare beneficiary The term “medicare beneficiary” means an individual entitled to benefits under part A, or enrolled under part B, of title XVIII of the Social Security Act, but does not include such an individual enrolled in part A under section 1818. (ii) Group health plan The term “group health plan” means any group health plan (as defined in section 5000(b)(1) ). (iii) Qualified employer The term “qualified employer” means, for a calendar year, an employer which has furnished written statements under section 6051 with respect to at least 20 individuals for wages paid in the year.