Changes are coming to your Medicare card.  By April 2019, your card will be replaced with one that no longer shows your Social Security number.  Instead, your card will have a new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) that will be used for billing and for checking your eligibility and claim status.

Having your Social Security number removed from your Medicare card helps fight medical identity theft and protects your medical and financial information.

Here are some common Medicare scams relating to the new cards:

• Someone calling, claiming to be from Medicare, and asking for your Social Security number or bank information.
• Someone asking you to pay for your new card.
• Someone threatening to cancel your benefits if you don’t provide information or money?

For more on the new changes to your Medicare card, visit Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  And report scams to the FTC.

For more information, click here.

Teaching Suggestions

1. How do you think this change will affect patients? You?
2. Replacing Social Security number with Health Insurance Claim Number will cost millions of taxpayers dollars. Do you think it is worth the expense?

Discussion Questions

• What is the biggest reason the Social Security is taking the Social Security Number off of Medicare cards?
• How will the new system affect people with Medicare?
• Who will be the affected stakeholders?