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New Medicare cards are coming soon! Here's when yours will be mailed

By Mike Timmermann
By Mike Timmermann

New Medicare cards will be showing up in mailboxes before you know it!

In a move to combat medical identity theft, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is issuing new cards that no longer include Social Security numbers.

You’ve probably heard about this for a few years, but it’s finally happening…

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Every Medicare beneficiary is about to receive a new health insurance card

Starting in April 2018, new Medicare cards will gradually be mailed to everyone with Medicare based on geographic location and other factors.

Check out what the new cards will look like:

Medicare.gov

Medicare Beneficiary Identifier

The SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) is being replaced with an 11-character Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI), which is made up of numbers and uppercase letters.

Each MBI is randomly generated and the characters don’t have any hidden or special meaning.

Once you receive your new Medicare card with an MBI, you can use it right away and destroy your old card. Your coverage and benefits will stay the same.

When will you receive a new Medicare card?

The cards will be mailed to beneficiaries in waves. Here's a breakdown of when you can expect to receive yours, according to Medicare:

Wave States Included Cards Mailing
1 Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia		 April – June 2018
2 Alaska, American Samoa, California, Guam, Hawaii,
Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon		 April – June 2018
3 Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota,
Wisconsin		 After June 2018
4 Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont		 After June 2018
5 Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina,
South Carolina		 After June 2018
6 Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming		 After June 2018
7 Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio,
Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands		 After June 2018

This is important: Medicare will automatically mail your new card for free to the address you have on file with Social Security. Click here if you need to update your mailing address.

Watch out for scams! 

Scammers may be looking to profit during this transition period. Beware of anyone who contacts you and requests your card number or says you need to pay for your new card.

To learn more about your new Medicare card, visit go.medicare.gov/newcard.

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