[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 135 (Tuesday, September 13, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S5580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. 
        Wyden):
  S. 1551. A bill to establish a smart card pilot program under the 
Medicare program; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I am pleased to stand here today and 
introduce the Medicare Common Access Card Act of 2011 with my colleague 
from Oregon, Senator Ron Wyden. Every year, at least $60 billion in the 
Medicare program is attributed to waste, fraud, and abuse in the 
Medicare program. One of the fundamental steps Congress can take to 
address this is to upgrade the beneficiary's Medicare card using secure 
smart card technology, similar to the one already used for Department 
of Defense personnel.
  Verifying identity through a secure smart card will protect a 
beneficiary's personal information, prevent fraud among beneficiaries 
and providers, and legitimize Medicare claims. The Department of 
Defense has issued over 20 million secure smart cards as their ``Common 
Access Card,'' CAC, to authenticate and verify users for access to 
programs and facilities. To date, DoD reports that not a single Common 
Access Card has been counterfeited. We cannot stop or prevent fraud in 
the system until we find a way to know and verify who is authorized to 
provide and receive benefits.
  The Medicare Common Access Card Act of 2011 builds on the success of 
the DoD CAC card to establish a program that simply and securely 
verifies the identity of both Medicare beneficiaries and providers. By 
implementing well-established Common Access Card technology to protect 
the Medicare program, we can save U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars 
while securing the privacy of America's seniors. I urge my colleagues 
to join us in supporting the Medicare Common Access Card Act--a common 
sense approach to reforming Medicare, protecting seniors and preventing 
millions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse.

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