Coming Soon: National Patient Identification

When I first read HIPAA, I must of totally missed the identification requirements. Here's the money sentence (emphasis mine):

The Secretary shall adopt standards providing for a standard unique health identifier for each individual, employer, health plan, and health care provider for use in the health care system.

Holy crap, we're going to be assigned a number just to get healthcare. Nobody should need a number to receive healthcare.

I presume they'll use SSNs. SSNs were not supposed to be used for identification, yet they're used for tax identification, obtaining IDs (REAL ID Act) and for eligibility for other entitlement programs: HUD and Medicare/aid.