Replies

“If one remembers (as it was for the first one I received) it was NOT to be used for identification purposes.”

When the health insurance companies started using our SS#’s, some in the late 1970’s, some of us started saying whoa and no! They were apparently following the Medicare protocols set up by LBJ.

A decade or so later, any of us who saw a doctor, had lab work done, x rays and other medical services, our SS# was in a lot of unprotected medical offices, labs, hospitals and other medical providers.

In the 80’s a scam that started with the so called poor and dare I say illegals, was loaning someone else your medical insurance cards so they could get free medical services. Some stole the cards from friends, room mates and where ever they could get them.

So the providers started asking for photo ids when a card was presented (of course with our SS#’s). The standard procedure then and now, was/is to photocopy your driver’s license, ss card or medicare/insurance card. Now your driver’s license # was out there unprotected with your SS#.

Often the lowest paid person in a medical provider’s office is the secretary and the book keeper, sometimes the same person. Their low pay often made them targets for the crooks after ss#’ and other id nos.

A few years ago, the feds started forcing medical providers to go to computer systems for patient data. Supposedly that would secure and protect our SS#’s and other data.

That has worked so well, we often read about a hospital or big lab supposedly having our numbers stolen by some unknown group or by stupid error in the hospital.

Along this concern about numbers, never use a credit card to pay for any medical service provided. That is asking for identity theft, if they have your cc # and social security number and other data like birthdates, maiden names etc.