mr. chairman , i yield myself the balance of my time .  i find it strange that the distinguished chairman and the distinguished chairwoman , both of whom are well known for their support of medicare , social security , and seniors in this nation would object to what is really just a bureaucratic change , a change that can be done through computers in a very quick fashion .  the department of health and human services has said that the health insurance claim number that they use is merely a variation of the recipient 's social security number , not the actual number , and has noted that the number may be based on the social security number of a spouse or parent .  however , more often than not , the number the agency uses is the person 's social security , preceded or followed by a single letter of the alphabet .  the agency has said it has no immediate plans to stop this practice .  what more can the department of health and human services do to the theft of our identity ?  give thieves and unscrupulous people mothers ' maiden names ?  not so long ago , i would tell the chairman , we experienced the same problem with the mailing labels sent to us from the irs .  i was told there was no way the irs would change its practice and any disruption would disrupt the whole tax collection system of the nation .  i found that incomprehensible , simply a defense of bureaucratic inertia , and said that they can change a computer system very quickly so booklets that would be mailed out to millions of americans would not have the social security number .  i introduced a similar bill to stop the irs from putting social security numbers on its mailings , and the irs found a way in short time to stop the practice that could lead to identity theft .  there is simply no excuse , mr. chairman , for leaving medicare beneficiaries vulnerable to identity theft with a thinly disguised social security number on medicare-related mailings .  this is merely bureaucratic inertia .  it only requires a computer software change .  no benefits to medicare or social security will be held up .  it is about time this congress said to a bureaucracy , cut the fooling around , break through the red tape , and protect our seniors and all our families in america from identity theft .  