Two government issued cards display Social Security numbers:
- Social Security, and
- Medicare insurance.
To help prevent identity theft, the Social Security Administration recommends you take your Social Security card out of your wallet; keep it at home in a safe place. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the organization that administers Medicare, prints on the back of every Medicare card: “Carry your card with you when you are away from home.”
Despite the risk of carrying Social Security numbers, CMS has long resisted the call to stop using them as insurance identification numbers.
Why? Money and time. It will cost the federal government millions of dollars and take several years to change the identifying numbers on all the current Medicare cards.
Using Social Security numbers for medical insurance ID numbers is a significant issue. Medicare beneficiaries are typically 65 years of age and older, and seniors can be easy targets for fraud and identity theft. In 2013, the number of people enrolled in Medicare was 52.3 million. This number is expected to reach 74 million by 2015.
This year Congress passed a bill prohibiting the use of Social Security numbers on Medicare cards. President Obama signed it into law in April. A recent The New York Times article reported Congress is providing $320 million over four years to pay for the change.
According to the Office of the Inspector General, CMS has up to four years to issue “modernized cards” as people enroll in Medicare. It has four more years to reissue cards to current beneficiaries.
In the meantime, there are steps you can take to protect your Social Security number:
- The Privacy Rights Clearing house suggests you bring your Medicare card with you only when you are seeing a new provider. Otherwise, don’t carry it. Your current healthcare providers don’t need it; they already have your information in their systems.
- The National Council on Aging suggests you give your Medicare number over the phone in advance of an appointment with a new healthcare provider, eliminating the need to carry the card with you.
- If you don’t like the idea of not having your Medicare card in your wallet, AARP recommends you photocopy and cut it down to wallet size. Cut out the last four digits of your Social Security numbers. Carry the altered copy with you. If you have your Social Security number memorized, you can provide the missing numbers.
If you have an emergency and don’t have your Medicare card with you, you cannot be refused care. You will need to provide the information on the card at some point, but you won’t be denied the care you need.
What do you think of the new Medicare ID number law?
This blog is published to provide you with general information only, and is not intended to provide specific or comprehensive advice. Money Care, LLC encourages individuals to seek advice from competent professionals when appropriate.
