If you haven’t heard the news, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is changing up the Medicare card, to one that is unique in its ID #, instead of the current Social Security numbered one. This initiative will be completed by April 2019. The mail outs are done automatically and are sent based on the location of the person.
CMS has taken this new step, in an effort to curtail fraudulent usage of Social Security numbers, which can lead to both identity theft and even illegal usage of Medicare benefits.
Currently, CMS is mailing out the new Medicare cards to those in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. For a full list of states and when the mailouts occurred, click here. Once received, CMS advises to destroy the old card and use the new one right away.
We hope this information helps bring you up to speed with the latest on Medicare in America. Here at the Harrin Group in San Antonio, Texas, we focus a lot of our time on the Medicare side and are happy to help explain your options to you, no matter the situation. Give us a call today and in the meantime, check out our “Medicare 101” page.
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Source: CMS
