Your Medicare card is being replaced.
For many seniors their red white and blue Medicare card is
one of their most important possessions. The card lists your name and related
Social Security Number and shows the dates you became eligible for health
overage under Medicare Parts A and B. The card is your entry ticket for
services by hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers.
Beginning in April 2018 Medicare will start issuing new
cards. The new cards will replace the Social Security number on the card with a
new Medicare number. You should receive your new card sometime between April 1,
2018 and April 1, 2019.
Here are some things you should know about these new cards.
- You
don’t need to take any action to get your new Medicare card.
- The
new card won’t change your Medicare coverage or benefits.
- Medicare
will never ask you to give them personal or private information to get
your new Medicare Number and card.
- There's
no charge for your new card.
The new cards are being issued as a result of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015.
That law requires Medicare to remove Social Security Numbers from all Medicare
cards by April 2019. They will be replaced by a new 11-character Medicare
Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) which will be used for Medicare transactions like
billing, eligibility status, and claim status.
Your new card should look something like this:
The new MBI numbers and cards are being issued in order to
fight identify theft.
The cards will be mailed out on a geographic basis. There
will be a transition period during which you can use either your old SSN based
claims number or your new MBI. The transition period will end on December 31,
2019.
After the transition period ends on January 1, 2020, you
will generally need to use your MBI on Medicare claims.
Medicare health and drug plans (e.g. Medicare Advantage
plans) will also have to change your ID claim number if the existing
numbers include whole or parts of the beneficiary’s Social Security Number
Watch out for scams
Be very careful if you are contacted about your new Medicare
card. Medicare warns that scam artists may try to get your current Medicare
Number and other personal information by contacting you about your new Medicare
card. They may claim to be from Medicare and use various scams to get your
Medicare Number. Medicare beneficiaries should expect that scammers will
try to take advantage of confusion surrounding the issuing of new cards. For
example, scammers may call you:
- Asking
you to confirm your Medicare or Social Security Number so they can send
you a new card.
- Telling
you there's a charge for your new card and they need to verify your
personal information.
- Threatening
to cancel your health benefits if you don’t share your Medicare Number or
other personal information.
These will be fraudulent calls. Do NOT give out your Social
Security Number, MBI, or other personal information to the caller. If someone
calls you and asks for your Medicare Number or other personal information, HANG
UP. If you want you can report the fraudulent call to Medicare at
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).
What you Should Do
- Make
sure your mailing address is up-to-date. If your address needs to be
corrected, contact Social Security at gov/myaccount
or 1-800-772-1213. TTY: 1-800-325-0778.
- Remember
Medicare will never ask you to give them personal or private information
to get your new Medicare number and card.
For the most updated information on the New Medicare Card
please go to https://www.cms.gov/newcard