New Medicare Cards Issued Beginning April 2018

With all Medicare beneficiaries receiving new Medicare identification cards beginning
April 2018, the Missouri Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) is offering tips to avoid potential scammers.
A press release from the SMP says, new and existing Medicare beneficiaries will receive a new Medicare card between April 2018 and 2019. Medicare will remove the Social Security numbers from Medicare cards and mail each person a new red, white and blue card with an alpha-numeric number.

The change is meant to keep beneficiaries’ information more secure and help protect their identity. According to the SMP, each beneficiary will receive a unique Medicare number to only be used for Medicare coverage.

However, beneficiaries are urged to be beware of anyone contacting them about the new Medicare cards. The SMP says that Medicare will not call people seeking personal  information in order to receive a new number or card. Medicare already has that information.

Missouri SMP Director, Rona McNally said, "If someone makes that call to you seeking your Medicare number or bank account number, don’t give that information.”

McNally is concerned that news of the new cards will prompt fraudsters to come up with new scams. The SMP emphasizes that new cards will not change beneficiaries’ coverage or benefits.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid are reminding everyone to make sure their mailing address is up-to-date. If an address needs to be corrected, contact Social Security at ssa.gov/myaccount, or call 1-800-772-1213.

McNally added that. “It might take some time for people to get cards, and
yours might arrive at a different time than your friend’s or neighbor’s.” The SMP noted for beneficiaries to be patient while new cards a mailed out.

If anyone suspects fraud has occurred, call 888-515-6565 to file a report.