The Chicago Tribune reports that two Republican Congressmen from Illinois are introducing a bill requiring that Social Security cards include a photograph, fingerprint, computer chip, bar code and magnetic strip. The idea is to help prevent identity theft. The Congressmen described this as only a "modest upgrade."
If this were to happen, the Social Security Administration would be dramatically transformed, perhaps doubling its staff.
6 comments:
If the card has a photo, the card should also have an expiration date. Plus who is going to pay for the replacement if lost?
Great idea, but what's it going to cost, since SSA offices would need cameras to take the photo and be able to transmit it to the NCC to have the card made.
Maybe SSA could go in half with State DMV offices and you could take the photo for the SSN card and driver's license/ID card at the same time. Roll two fun times into one. The only thing that could make it better would be having a dentist there too.
Great, our staff would be doubled to accommodate a hare-brained scheme like this but still not have enough people to actually process claims. More clueless congressmen.
Why do we even need to issue a Social Security card? Most ID thieves don't even use or need the actual SSN card - We would probably be better served to not issue replacement cards at all.
One of the main reasons for issuing te card is that an unrestricted card is proof of authorization to work on the Form I-9.
SSA was ordered by Congress in 1996 to study the options for making the SS card "more secure." This idea was the most expensive - it was estimated to cost $10 billion in 1997, more than the annual operating budget at SSA.
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