Social Security officials call for social security numbers to be removed from Medicare ID cards

Social Security Administration officials have requested that CMS take immediate action to issue beneficiaries new membership cards that do not include their Social Security numbers to address concerns regarding identity theft, the New York Times reports.

Medical identity theft is the fastest-growing form of identity theft, according to Byron Hollis, director of the antifraud department at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Most private insurers have removed Social Security numbers from their membership cards because many states forbid the inclusion of such information, the Times reports. SSA cannot prohibit CMS from including Social Security numbers on Medicare cards, but Congress could, according to the Times.

Clay Johnson, deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, in a May 2007 memo to the heads of federal departments and agencies, wrote that CMS should develop plans to "eliminate the unnecessary collection and use of Social Security numbers within 18 months." However, CMS Chief Operating Officer Charlene Frizzera said issuing new cards would be a "huge undertaking" and would require three years to plan the change and eight more years to completely reissue cards. She said that beneficiaries would be alarmed if the government began issuing new cards or changing individual identification numbers. "We don't want to scare them," she said. Medicare officials estimate that issuing new identification numbers would require $500 million in computer changes. According to the Times, providers use the Social Security numbers to file claims with Medicare, which pays one billion claims annually.

In the report, SSA Inspector General Patrick O'Carroll said, "Displaying such information on Medicare cards unnecessarily places millions of individuals at risk for identity theft." He added, "We do not believe a federal agency should place more value on convenience than the security of its beneficiaries' personal information."

According to the Times, other federal agencies have begun to take steps to remove Social Security numbers from identification cards, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has begun issuing new cards to members that "generally" do not include their Social Security numbers (Pear, New York Times, 6/22).