Long waited security measures to your Medicare card have arrived! In summary, your new card will have a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) that will be used in lieu of your social security number.

The Act that authorizes this change is titled the “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015”. Within this 95 page Act there are numerous provisions pertaining to Medicare and among them “Title V – Miscellaneous, Subtitle A – Protecting the Integrity of Medicare” gave The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) four years to implement this enhancement. Funding for implementation is at a cost of approx. $320 million.

While this Act was passed in 2015, it had been requested for more than a decade to remove the social security number in an attempt to help prevent identity theft. The new cards were rolled out earlier this year and are currently being mailed in “waves” depending upon what region of the country you reside. The mailings are expected to be completed by April 2019.

As a level of protection for yourself, do not provide any information over the phone from an unsolicited phone call because Medicare officials will never call you or ask for your information over the phone.

To learn more about the Medicare cards, view the attached article below.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/new-medicare-cards.html

CID: VWM15072025