The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have begun automatically mailing new Medicare cards to more than 3.5 million people with Medicare in New York State.
CMS is mailing the new Medicare cards in geographic waves. People with Medicare in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont will also be receiving their new card. Those with Medicare in these states and New York should have received their new card and can begin using it right away. Work on this initiative began with the passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).
The new Medicare card helps people with Medicare detect and avoid identity theft, scams and fraud, as well as provide updates on the rollout process so those with Medicare in New York can check the status of when they will receive their new card, if they haven’t yet already.
Key features include: Social Security Numbers have been replaced with new unique identifying numbers and are no longer on the new Medicare, helping protect people from identity theft and CMS fight fraud; the new Medicare card is free, which helps to avoid scammers by knowing that CMS will not call people with Medicare asking for any personal information, a Social Security Number, bank information or to pay for the new Medicare card; those with Medicare can sign up for email notifications by visiting www.medicare.gov/newcard and most importantly, there are no changes to Medicare benefits.
Once cardholders have received a new Medicare card, they should destroy the old Medicare card by shredding or cutting it with scissors.
—Submitted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
