Medicare Beneficiaries Advised to Watch Mail Closely for New Cards

Beginning April 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will start mailing new Medicare cards to all people with Medicare. A new alpha-numeric identifier will replace the current Social Security Number-based identifier. This roll-out will occur over several months, based upon the geographic location of the Medicare beneficiary. There are concerns that people might believe this is a “scam,” and therefore, will ignore notifications or throw new identification cards away.

If you are a Medicare beneficiary, watch your mail closely for notifications from Medicare relating to this change. Medicare beneficiaries should begin bringing their new card with them to healthcare visits as soon as they receive it.

People with Medicare will be able to go to medicare.gov/newcard to sign up for emails about the card mailing, and to check the card mailing status in their state.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, only the new card will be usable.