A bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to remove Social Security account numbers from Medicare identification cards and communications provided to Medicare beneficiaries in order to protect Medicare beneficiaries from identity theft

2008·0.16 MB·English

by  United States. Congress. Senate

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To requirethe SecretaryofHealthand Human Servicesto remove Social
SecurityaccountnumbersfromMedicareidentificationcardsandcommu-
nicationsprovidedtoMedicarebeneficiariesinordertoprotectMedicare
beneficiariesfromidentitytheft.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September17,2008
Mr.DURBIN(forhimself,Mr.Bingaman,andMr.Kohl)introducedthe
followingbill;whichwasreadtwiceandreferredtotheCommitteeonFinance
A
BILL
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services
to remove Social Security account numbers from Medi-
care identification cards and communications provided
to Medicare beneficiaries in order to protect Medicare
beneficiariesfromidentitytheft.
1 BeitenactedbytheSenateandHouseofRepresenta-
2 tivesoftheUnitedStatesofAmericainCongressassembled,
3 SECTION1.SHORTTITLE.
4 ThisActmaybecitedasthe"SocialSecurityNum-
5 berProtectionActof2008".
2
1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND
2 HUMAN SERVICES TO PROHIBIT THE DIS-
3 PLAYOF SOCIAL SECURITYACCOUNTNUM-
4 BERSONMEDICAREIDENTIFICATIONCARDS
5 ANDCOMMUNICATIONSPROVTOEDTOMEDI-
6 CAREBENEFICIARD3S.
—
7 (a) In General. Notlaterthan 3 years afterthe
8 dateoftheenactmentofthisAct,theSecretaryofHealth
9 and Human Services shall establish and begin to imple-
10 ment procedures to eliminate the unnecessarycollection,
11 use, and display of Social Security account numbers of
12 Medicarebeneficiaries.
13 (b) Medicare Cardsand Communications Pro-
—
14 VTDEDTOBENEFICIAREES.
15 (1)Cards.—
16 (A) New cards.—Not laterthan 3 years
17 afterthedateoftheenactmentofthisAct,the
18 SecretaryofHealth and Human Services shall
19 ensure that each newlyissued Medicare identi-
20 fication card meets the requirements described
21 insubparagraph(C).
—
22 (B) Replacementofexistingcards.
23 Notlaterthan5yearsafterthedateoftheen-
24 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Health
25 andHumanServicesshallensurethatallMedi-
26 care beneficiaries have been issued a Medicare
•S3512is
1 identification cardthatmeets the requirements
2 ofsubparagraph(C).
—
3 (C) Requirements. The requirements
4 describedinthissubparagraphare,withrespect
5 toaMedicareidentificationcard, thatthecard
6 does not display or electronically store (in an
7 unencrypted format) a Medicare beneficiary's
8 SocialSecurityaccountnumber.
9 (2) Communications provided to bene-
—
10 ficiaries. Notlaterthan3yearsafterthedateof
11 the enactment ofthisAct, the Secretary ofHealth
12 and Human Services shall prohibit the displayofa
13 Medicarebeneficiary's Social Securityaccountnum-
14 beronwrittenorelectroniccommunicationprovided
15 to the beneficiary unless the Secretary determines
16 thatinclusionofSocialSecurityaccountnumberson
17 suchcommunicationsisessentialfortheoperationof
18 theMedicareprogram.
—
19 (c)MedicareBeneficiaryDefined. Inthissec-
20 tion,theterm"Medicarebeneficiary"meansanindividual
21 who is entitledto, orenrolledfor, benefitsunderpartA
22 oftitleXVHIoftheSocialSecurityActorenrolledunder
23 partBofsuchtitle.
24 (d)ConformingReferenceintheSocialSecu-
25 rity Act.—Section 205(c)(2)(C) ofthe Social Security
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1
CHSLIBRARY
3 aIIII5I1 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
4
1 Act(42U.S.C.405(c)(2)(C))isamendedbyaddingatthe
2 endthefollowingnewclause:
3 "(x) For provisions relating to requiring the Sec-
4 retaryofHealthandHumanServicestoprohibitthedis-
5 playofSocialSecurityaccountnumbersonMedicareiden-
6 tificationcardsandcommunicationsprovidedtoMedicare
7 beneficiaries, seesection2oftheSocialSecurityNumber
8 ProtectionActof2008.".
—
9 (e) Authorization of Appropriations. There
10 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as maybe
11 necessarytocarryoutthissection.
O
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