n 110t2hdCSOesNsGiRonESS £1 JQfJfj1|^O 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 •S3512IS 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 9 >S3512IS