Identity Card Could Be Part of Health Plan

President Clinton’s plan to reform health care is likely to include a universal identity card that may use Social Security numbers to keep track of patients, say White House and congressional aides involved in drafting the package.

Ira Magaziner, coordinator of the President’s health care task force, says a “health security card” could be part of the plan Clinton expects to give to Congress this spring.

Two congressional aides with ties to the task force, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said Social Security numbers were being considered as the identification number for the cards.

Privacy experts contend that use of Social Security numbers could compromise the confidentiality of a patient’s medical history in this age of computerized records.

Critics say employers, creditors or insurance companies could obtain medical information and use it to deny someone a job, credit, or life or car insurance.

“The use of the Social Security number is an invitation to abuse,” said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Washington office of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. “It is the key that unlocks all the doors to personal files.”

A congressional aide said the cards could be used by doctors and hospitals to call up a cardholder’s medical records, such as their insurance benefits, from a computer.

Magaziner told consumer and health advocacy groups on Friday that a “smart card” that would carry the cardholder’s detailed medical history in a microchip is several years away.

The health industry spends an estimated $35 billion a year on excess paperwork, according to congressional estimates, and the use of computerized records is seen as a way to cut those costs.

Also on Monday, the Assn. of American Physicians and Surgeons charged that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care task force is continuing to keep its records secret despite a federal court order that it comply with open meetings laws.

White House officials rejected the claim.