It will likely make the Social Security number obsolete. You may not be able to work, travel or function without a government-issued health ID card in your possession. There are other concerns as well, but I am not arguing about their substance today. At the hearings, two things quickly became apparent. First, there is no consensus on which identifier should be selected.
Opinions range all over the place.
That was no real surprise. The second point was more interesting. The lack of agreement extends to the basic role of identification in the health care system. Some opposed any new identifier. Existing linkage techniques that do not use identifiers might solve the problem.