[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2518 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2518

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to prohibit disclosure 
        of Social Security numbers on Medicare-related mailings.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 23, 2005

 Mr. Filner (for himself and Mr. Foley) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition 
      to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to prohibit disclosure 
        of Social Security numbers on Medicare-related mailings.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop the Theft of Our Social 
Security Numbers Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF DISCLOSURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS ON 
              MEDICARE-RELATED MAILINGS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1874 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395kk) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d)(1) In any case in which an individual's identifying number 
for purposes of this title is the social security account number issued 
to such individual for purposes of section 205(c)(2)(A), no officer or 
employee of the Department of Health and Human Services may include 
such number--
            ``(A) as part of any medicare-related mailing to any 
        person, including the mailing of any medicare card that 
        contains such number; or
            ``(B) as part of the contents of any tax-related mailing to 
        any person unless--
                    ``(i) the contents are in an envelope (or other 
                appropriate wrapper) which is sealed; and
                    ``(ii) such number may not be viewed without 
                opening such envelope (or wrapper).
            ``(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term `medicare-
        related mailing' means any mailing related to the 
        administration of this title.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to mailings made on or after the first day of the first month 
beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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