PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Last September, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gave the public its first look at the newly designed Medicare card. The new Medicare card contains a unique, randomly-assigned number that replaces the current Social Security-based number.
Diana Nadeau Clark, Aroostook Senior Medicare Patrol Program manager based at the Aroostook Agency on Aging in Presque Isle, explained CMS will begin mailing the new cards to people with Medicare benefits in April to meet the statutory deadline for replacing all existing Medicare cards by April 2019.
Medicare consumers will see the design of the new Medicare card in the 2018 Medicare & You Handbook. Maine recipients will start seeing the new cards after June 2018.
“The goal of the initiative to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards is to help prevent fraud, combat identity theft, and safeguard taxpayer dollars,” said CMS administrator Seema Verma.
CMS has assigned all people with Medicare benefits a new, unique Medicare number, which contains a combination of numbers and uppercase letters. People with Medicare will receive a new Medicare card in the mail, and will be instructed to safely and securely destroy their current Medicare card and keep their new Medicare number confidential. Issuance of the new number will not change benefits that people with Medicare receive.
Healthcare providers and people with Medicare will be able to use secure look-up tools that will allow quick access to the new Medicare numbers when needed. During a 21-month transition period, doctors, healthcare providers and suppliers will be able to use either their current SSN-based Medicare number or their new, unique Medicare number, to ease the transition.
This initiative will help protect the identities of people with Medicare. CMS is also working with healthcare providers to ensure a successful transition to the new Medicare numbers.
For more information, please visit: www.cms.gov/newcard.
