As precaution, Casey moves to limit use of Social Security numbers in health care

With data breaches happening more and more often, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is pushing for legislation that limits the use of Social Security numbers in the health care system.

The bill would prevent identity theft and expedite refunds for victims who have had their identification stolen, said the Pennsylvania lawmaker.

Casey said he will work with the Internal Revenue Service to crack down on fraud.

“When we point out a problem, we have to work with the IRS to get them the resources they need. Now if they’re not doing the job, we can make sure they know that we’re not satisfied and push them to do what they must do,” he said. “But you can’t just curse the darkness, you got to have solutions. And part of the solution is making sure the IRS has resources”.

Pennsylvania has had more than 100,000 confirmed cases of tax-related identification theft in 2014 — second only to Florida, Casey said.

There were 37,000 cases of identity theft just in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington area.