Protecting our seniors from identity theft

By U.S. Sen. Susan Collins

(R-Maine)

Americans are very concerned about the risk of identity theft.  A recent Harris Poll found that 70 percent of respondents cited identity theft as among their greatest security-related concerns, ahead of terrorism, personal safety, and natural disasters.

This concern comes as no surprise.  Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 332,000 complaints from Americans who reported being victimized by someone who had stolen their identity.  It is important to note, however, that this figure is based on self-reporting, and we know that many victims do not report being the victim of a crime for various reasons, including embarrassment and not knowing where and how to report.  As a result, some estimates have placed the actual figure much higher, including one recent study that found that 12.7 million Americans were victimized by identity theft last year.

This is not a new problem: the FTC reports that identity theft has been its number-one consumer complaint during the past 15 years.

It is especially troubling that, according to the FTC, 28 percent of the identity theft complaints it received — for both personal financial and medical information — were reported by seniors.  For the victims of identity theft, the stakes are high. Identity thieves can drain bank accounts, make unauthorized credit charges, and damage credit reports.  When medical identity theft occurs, the thief can obtain medical care, buy drugs, and submit fake billings to Medicare.

As a senator representing the state with the oldest median age and as Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, one of my highest priorities is protecting seniors against financial exploitation and scams.  I recently led a Committee hearing that examined whether federal government is doing enough to safeguard the sensitive personal information of seniors from attacks by identity thieves.

Earlier this year, I  joined  the Aging Committee’s Ranking Member, Sen. Claire McCaskill in sending a letter to CMS requesting information related to whether the agency is making progress in the important effort to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards.  In its response, CMS told us that it would likely take approximately two to three years to make the necessary system modifications, conduct an outreach and education campaign, and issue new cards.

Since it was increasingly clear that CMS officials were going to continue to drag their feet, Congress passed and the President signed a law in April to require CMS to remove Social Security numbers from all Medicare cards.  In May, I again led a letter from the Committee to CMS asking that we be further apprised of its plans.

The response was disheartening and unacceptable.  CMS told us that they anticipated it would now take four years to complete the project.  In other words, CMS has actually lengthened its estimate of the time needed to solve this problem first identified by the GAO 11 years ago.

The central focus of the hearing was to hear from CMS why it was taking so long to do something other government agencies – state and federal – as well as private entities had already accomplished, and why it would not make this change incrementally to expedite the process and reduce the risk.

The Aging Committee has taken an aggressive approach to fighting fraud and schemes targeting our nation’s seniors and has investigated issues ranging from lottery scams to deceptive telemarketers.  In addition, the Aging Committee has established a toll-free fraud hotline.  That number, posted on the Aging Committee website, is 1-855-303-9470.

We can reduce the likelihood of identity theft through tougher prosecution, consumer education, and by removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards without endless delays.