Clients to Receive New Medicare Number

CMS will soon begin mailing out new Medicare cards to all beneficiaries that contain NEW Medicare Beneficiary Identification (MBI) numbers. The new identification numbers will no longer contain Social Security Numbers and are intended to help protect individuals’ identities. Below is important information related to the issuance of new Medicare cards:

• New Medicare cards will be assigned to all Medicare beneficiaries
• The new cards will contain an 11 character identifier that is unique to each beneficiary
• The mailing will occur between April 2018 and April 2019.   Beneficiaries should be patient; they may receive their card at a different time than a friend or neighbor
• CMS encourages beneficiaries to destroy their old card once they receive their new card. Also, they should begin using the new card right away
• This does not affect their Carrier ID card or member ID # with the Health Plan.

What you should do:

Encourage your clients to verify their contact information with Social Security is up to date and accurate.  Click here to see how beneficiaries can update an address with Social Security:

• Encourage your clients to verify their contact information with Social Security is up to date and accurate.  Click here to see how beneficiaries can update an address with Social Security: Click here for Social Security website
• Ask beneficiaries if they have received their new Medicare card and use the updated information when submitting enrollment forms.Health Plans will update member’s files as CMS informs us of the beneficiaries’ new identification number, through 2019.

CMS will continue to accept existing Medicare numbers through December 31st, 2019;

however the transition will be easier if you submit enrollment forms using the new Medicare number whenever possible.

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