EthicsWalk addresses
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A question about the use of Social Security Numbers
I just donated blood at my local Red Cross chapter last week. In the intake I was asked to confirm at least twice that the identification information was correct. And they did ask about the SSN. So I wonder where the statement that "Blood banks cannot require SSN’s for donors or recipients: SSN’s have been used for participant identification. The Red Cross stopped the practice" is supported.
Rev. Dale Pracht
Director, Spiritual Care Services
Faith Regional Health Services
Nebraska
Anne's response:
Red Cross blood bank receptionists are not always aware of new national protocols, especially non-medical ones. Red Cross banks are authorized to "invent an alternate number" if the donor does not want to use the SSN. Unfortunately, the donor may have to explain and persist with the request to omit the SSN.
This is an example of why people need to be aware of their rights in relation to divulging their SSN's and advocate for themselves when the SSN is requested.
Social Security Numbers – Be Responsible – Use Discretely
At lunch recently, a chaplain mentioned that she’d just dropped a very thick envelop of highly personal medical information in the mail to an international research project on breast cancer. She was having second thoughts about her participation; not because of the extensive medical information, but because she “had to provide” her social security number (SSN) as a “participant I.D.” She’d read a New York Times article in which the Federal Trade Commission estimated that 10 million U.S. citizens a year have their identities stolen.[1] Medical records are a rich resource for pillaging SSN’s, the key component to identity theft.
The federal government issued SSN’s in 1936 to track citizens’ benefits in Social Security programs. The Social Security Administration (SSA) assured Americans the numbers would have no further distribution or use. While the SSA largely kept that promise, other governmental agencies and private entities co-opted the SSN as the easiest form of identity coding. It is the most commonly used recordkeeping number in the United States.[2]
The Privacy Act of 1974[3] curtails some exploitation by government agencies if consumers exercise their rights.[4] It does not cover private entities although other laws addressing privacy often do.
People are unaware they need not comply with every SSN request. Indeed, it is socially and personally responsible not to comply with most! The breast cancer project used social security numbers for convenience. Requiring participant SSN’s was an unnecessary privacy intrusion with no medical research justification.
Awareness of individual and institutional rights and responsibilities regarding use and distribution of SSN’s is important to effective advocacy by chaplains for patients (and themselves).
1. No local, state or federal agency can deny benefits or services to someone who refuses to supply a SSN – unless federal law requires the disclosure – in which case, that must be evident in a disclosure statement on the form.[5]
2. Blood banks cannot require SSN’s for donors or recipients: SSN’s have been used for participant identification. The Red Cross stopped the practice. Other blood banks that continue are not breaking a law – but there is no law supporting their practice. Most will accept another identity confirmation if the person requests persistently.
3. Medical providers, including insurance companies, are not required to obtain a person’s SSN. However, no law prohibits the request. Anthem-Blue Cross is phasing out the SSN as ID. Policyholders can obtain a new ID number now upon request. Doctor’s offices and labs have no need for SSN’s. Patients should not respond to requests for SSN’s.
4. Hospitals cannot require patients to supply a SSN for admission or services. Patients can stipulate another number for record’s ID.[6]
5. CPE entities receiving federal monies,[7] are subject to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.[8] Student SSN’s are considered “personally identifiable information” that can only be distributed with the student’s written consent. SSN’s cannot be used as student ID numbers. Some CPE programs continue to do so.[9]
Respect for personal privacy is a core ethical value. Recognizing and realizing opportunities to educate and advocate for privacy protection is socially responsible ministry.
[1] “Some ID Theft Is Not for Profit But to Get a Job,” The New York Times, September 4, 2006, p. A-12. Many stolen SSN’s are sold to undocumented immigrants to enable them to get employment. Employers don’t verify data and the SSA collects millions it never pays out to the undocumented workers who subsidize the system for U.S. citizens.
[2] See “My Social Security Number: How Secure Is It?” January 2006, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, www.privacyrights.org
[3] 5 USC Sec.552a
[4] Federal, state and local entities requesting SSN’s must provide a “disclosure” statement on the form requesting the number. It must disclose how the SSN is used, by what authority it is sought, and state if providing the number is optional or mandatory (motor vehicle departments, tax authorities and welfare offices are among the few permitted to require SSN’s.).
[5] The Privacy Act of 1974 (5USC 552a) text at www.usdoj.gov/foia/privstat.htm
[6] If you are a patient in an institution that employs you, make certain your SSN is not “automatically” transported from your employment file to your medical record.
[7] CPE programs received federal funds in the form of student financial aid making them subject to FERPA in other areas of student life as well as SSN use.
[8] FERPA the “Buckley Amendment” of 1974 [20 USC 123g]
[9] If an institution argues the SSN is not part of the student record, Krebs v. Rutgers, 797F.Supp.1246 (D.N.J. 1992) rules to the contrary. SSN’s are properly required for financial aid and student employment but cannot be used for other purposes.
Anne Underwood has an undergraduate
degree in religious studies, a
master’s degree in rural sociology
and a mid-life law degree obtained
after working over a decade as
a college administrator. She has
mediated for the Maine family courts
since 1983. Currently she serves
as an advisor to the ethics commissions
of ACPE, APC, the CCAR (Central
Conference of American Rabbis),
and NAJC, and consults with a variety
of Protestant faith communities
on issues of power, fair process,
and congregational conflict management.
Her articles on mediation and restorative
justice have appeared in the ACPE
News, The APC News and on the ACPE
web site. Articles on clergy accountability
and judicatory processes are published
by the Alban Institute and The
Journal on Religion and Abuse.
A
chapter, “Clergy Sexual Misconduct:
A Justice Issue,” appears in Body
and Soul: Rethinking Sexuality
as Justice-Love
, Marvin Ellison
and Sylvia Thorson-Smith, editors,
The Pilgrim Press, 2003.
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