Stop using Social Security numbers for Medicare ID

To help stop identity theft the government should assign a Medicare (or Medicaid) number that can relate to our Social Security Records so that we are not asked to expose our SSN to medical providers or others to whom we must present a Medicare ID number. Identity theft is a serious issue in this country and exposing our number by using it as an ID we present at physician offices, hospitals, to our other insurance carriers, etc. we expose the number to a large number of people. Those people have additional information about us already on file such as our date of birth, address, etc. making identity theft easier for those in our society who choose to steal and reuse this information.