Lawmakers Back Medicare Cards

A bipartisan group of legislators from both houses of Congress have introduced a bill that would issue microchip-embedded smartcards to Medicare recipients and providers, starting with a $29 million investment that supporters say could eventually save up to $30 billion a year in fraud and abuse.

The Medicare Common Access Card Act of 2011 would require Medicare beneficiaries to swipe their new smartcard and enter a PIN when they arrive at the provider's office. After the appointment, providers would have to swipe their own cards into a machine that verifies their identity through fingerprint recognition.

The system would reduce the potential for identity theft, streamline billing and improve billing accuracy, the sponsors say through a website set up by the Secure ID Coalition to promote the bill.

The legislation was introduced earlier this month by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in the Senate, and in the House by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Jim Gerlach, R-Pa., and John Shimkus, R-Ill.

The cards would be similar to the common access cards used by the Defense Department to identify its 20 million health-care beneficiaries, Kirk says in a news release.

The enhanced security of smartcard identification will "not only make the identity of America's seniors more secure, it does so in a way that will ensure that Medicare is paying for the services that are actually being provided," co-sponsor Wyden says in the release.

"If you looked at the card carried by every Medicare beneficiary in America you would find their name and their full Social Security number there for all to see," he says. "In an age of identity theft, this is simply asking for trouble."

The bill calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to set up pilot programs in five areas, then assess the results after a year in a report to Congress. Expanded implementation would follow, with additional analysis due from HHS after another year, along with recommendations for expanding and implementing the program nationwide.

The legislation first needs the approval of the Senate Finance Committee. Backers also are hoping that the Congressional Super Committee would include provisions of the law in its recommended debt-limit spending cuts due to Congress on Nov. 23.

AARP supports the measure along with the Secure ID Coalition, a digital security industry group whose members stand to benefit from the legislation.