New Medicare Cards: What You Need to Know

By Copper Leaf Financial – Beginning in May, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin mailing new identification cards to beneficiaries. The Medicare cards have been redesigned to help reduce the potential for identity theft — Social Security numbers and other personal information have been removed and now feature a randomly assigned 11-digit Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) that is unique to each person and not tied to someone’s personal information.

The aim of this initiative is to offer protection. Fraudsters, ironically, are using the newness of the program as an opportunity to get recipients to give up their MBI and personal and financial information.

Amy Nofziger, a fraud expert with AARP, says: “Anyone who is calling you for personal or financial information, hang up the phone.” She recommends that anyone who is contacted should report the scam by calling 1-800-MEDICARE.

It’s important to note that while the cards are new, Medicare benefits are remaining the same. We encourage you to visit the official Medicare website for more information about the new cards, tips to avoid scam attempts and a state-by-state timetable for when the cards will be delivered.

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