Subject: New Medicare cards
New Medicare cards will
be showing up in mailboxes before you know it! In a move to combat medical identity
theft, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is issuing
new cards that no longer include Social Security numbers. You’ve probably heard
about this for a few years, but it’s finally happening… Every Medicare
beneficiary is about to receive a new health insurance card
Starting in April 2018, new Medicare cards will gradually be mailed to everyone
with Medicare based on geographic location and other factors. Check out what
the new paper cards will look like:
Medicare.gov Medicare Beneficiary Identifier
The SSN-based Health
Insurance Claim Number (HICN) is being replaced with an 11-character Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI), which
is made up of numbers and uppercase letters. Each MBI is randomly generated and the
characters don’t have any hidden or special meaning. Once you receive your new
Medicare card with an MBI, you can use it right away and destroy your old card.
Your coverage and benefits will stay the same. When will you receive a
new Medicare card? The cards will be mailed to beneficiaries in waves.
Here’s a breakdown of when you can expect to receive yours, according to Medicare:
Wave
|
States Included
|
Cards Mailing
|
1
|
Delaware, District of
Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia |
April – June 2018
|
2
|
Alaska, American
Samoa, California, Guam, Hawaii,
Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon |
April – June 2018
|
3
|
Arkansas, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin |
After June 2018
|
4
|
Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont |
After June 2018
|
5
|
Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, North Carolina,
South Carolina |
After June 2018
|
6
|
Arizona, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming |
After June 2018
|
7
|
Kentucky, Louisiana,
Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio,
Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands |
After June 2018
|
This is important: Medicare will automatically mail
your new card for free to the address you have on file with Social
Security. Click here if you need to update your mailing address.
Watch out for scams!
Scammers may be looking
to profit during this transition period. Beware of anyone who contacts you and
requests your card number or says you need to pay for your new card.