ABINANTI APPLAUDS POMPCO FOR REMOVING SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS FROM INSURANCE ID CARDS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 23, 2005

Contact: Thomas J. Abinanti
Tel: (914) 328-9000 or
Cell: (914) 592-7100

County Legislator Tom Abinanti (D,I,WF, Greenburgh) today praised POMCO's recent announcement that it will remove social security numbers from insurance ID cards and replacing them with a unique member ID number – an action which Abinanti says is a huge step in the fight against identity theft.

"Particularly during the holiday shopping season, we need to remember that identity theft is the fastest growing financial crime in the United States, affecting more than 700,000 individuals a year and costing some $745 million per year,” Abinanti stated. "Identity theft can ruin its victims - they are denied credit, spend enormous amounts of time, effort and money to restore their lives and often suffer extreme emotional distress."

POMCO’s new policy comes almost one year to the day after Abinanti called for the change. In December 2004, Abinanti wrote to the County’s Finance Commissioner asking that the County " cease the use of social security numbers as health ID numbers. I propose instead that your department establish a new Health ID Enrollment ("HIDE") number for County employees enrolled in the County's Health Plan -- and assist county employees in the battle against ID theft by allowing them to HIDE their number from those who don't need to know it.” A few months ago, at Abinanti's instance, the Board's Legislation Committee agreed and instructed the County Attorney to prepare the legislation to mandate the change.

Abinanti has long fought to eliminate practices that facilitate ID theft. The Legislature is studying his proposed two-part law, which would: 1. ban the use of social security numbers for all non-payroll-related purposes; and 2. require employers to reimburse their employees for all losses from identity theft occurring because of the employer's release of their social security numbers or because the employees were required to disclose their social security by their employers' policies. In an October 24th meeting, the Committee on Legislation asked the County Attorney’s Office to prepare legislation banning the use of social security numbers on County documents. To date, the committee still has not received such a draft.

"POMCO acted commendably," said Abinanti. “More companies need to follow suit. They shouldn’t wait until they are legally obligated to do so.