I got a passport about month ago. It cost $45 all told. $10 for the photos, $5 for the clerks fee, and $30 for the state department. Now I didn't get the "passport book," which will cost you extra, so I can only go to Canada and Mexico. But travel wasn't my motivation for getting the passport. Like this so called chip, a passport shows your identity and your citizenship. (Although I do have fundamental issues with being constantly accosted by supposed authorities demanding to see my "papers," that's another discussion in and of itself.) So the benefit of the passport card is that you can "identify" yourself without revealing key pieces of your personal information, namely your social security number and your address. Usually people request your SS# to verify your citizenship status, but the passport eliminates the need to give out your number. You can't get a passport without one (again there's another discussion involving this item, but I'm talking in general terms here), so having a passport proves your citizenship. And while it has a photograph and your date of birth, it does not show your address. So you can show "proof" that you are who you say, without revealing where you live. As far as this chip is concerned, I would be very leary. Sounds like just another tracking device to me.