[LIConFem]

"That’s fine, as long as you can get by without little things like a driver’s license, or being admitted to that hospital, etc., etc."

Not quite true. Yes, you can't get a driver's license w/o an SSN, but you can be admitted to a hospital and see a doctor without it. True, they all ask. But you can say no, and they have no standing to demand your it or deny treatment based upon your refusal.

I've never given any doctor my SSN (at lease not in the past 30 years or so), and none has ever turned me away.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

That may be so. The clinic in this town had my SSN before I ever visited. They asked me whether it was correct the first time I went in.

[Delta 21]

Are you a vet or retired military? Your SSN IS your health insurance #. Your SSN IS your military ID #. Its on every piece of paper the military has referenced to you.

IT IS my ID#, wheather I like it or not.