Congress is mostly in agreement with removing seniors' Social Security numbers from their Medicare cards would help prevent identity theft, but lawmakers and CMS are at odds on how to pay for the cost of removing the numbers, according to a National Journal report.
Two solutions have been proposed to the House Ways and Means Committee to remove the numbers. One solution is to require CMS to issue new cards without the Social Security numbers printed on them. The other is to get rid of the current cards and provide seniors with a "smart card" that securely contains the Social Security numbers, according to the report.
Both solutions are seen by lawmakers to reduce fraud, but to enact either one would require CMS to pay a substantial sum of money to update or replace approximately 50 million Medicare members’ cards, according to the report.
To complete the project CMS wants an appropriation regardless of the solution chosen, but Congress thinks the numbers can be removed from the cards by CMS using its own resources, according to the report.
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