Newly eligible Medicare beneficiaries are receiving the newly designed Medicare ID cards from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Existing Medicare beneficiaries in Connecticut will get new cards sometime after June 2018.
CMS is issuing new cards to remove Social Security numbers (SSNs) by April 2019. The new cards are for original Medicare and do not apply to Medicare Advantage plans, like the ones ConnectiCare offers. ConnectiCare Medicare Advantage ID cards do not use or include Social Security numbers (SSNs).
The new Medicare cards will have new Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs) that replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICNs) used for Medicare transactions, like billing and claim status. The new MBIs should be treated like personal health information.
To find out more, check out these resources from CMS:
- What do the new Medicare cards mean for providers?
- New Medicare Card Project: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Providers can also get help from CMS’ provider ombudsman for the new Medicare card, Dr. Eugene Freund, who will send you information about the new Medicare cards and work inside CMS to settle any implementation problems.
