2010.10.5 - spoke with Jessica at Delta Dental

Called Delta Dental at 877.335.8273

First call: 10/5/10 1:30 PM, 19 minutes long
** call dropped **
Second call: 10/5/10 1:52 PM, 18 minutes long

Jessica stated that they "cannot" remove my SSN from their records.

I asked for her to clarify that statement. Does she mean that they are technologically unable to delete the data? Does she mean that they are legally unable to delete the data? Is it a specific Delta Dental policy? If it is law or policy, then what precisely does that law or policy state, verbatim?

Jessica repeated, over and over again, that they cannot remove my SSN, but they can issue me an alternate identification number. I explained to her calmly and clearly that she was not answering my question, and that my question was why she could not remove the SSN. I asked whether it was a technical, legal, or policy issue, or something else entirely. She repeated that she had indeed answered my question, and that she could, and had, issued me an alternate identification number.

Eventually, she stated that she could not remove the SSN because it was printed out on hard paper documents from Trinet. I did not understand how that prevented her from removing the SSN from electronic databases, but I avoided that conversation and instead asked what law she was citing that mandated this seven-year retention policy. She said she did not know the law but she was quite positive that it existed.

I told her that I would be researching this law, and that if it contradicted her understanding, I would be getting back to her soon. She said something sarcastically like, "good luck finding a loophole".