Protection against Identity Theft and Fraud: NEW Medicare ID Card
Last April 2018 Medicare began sending new cards with new Medicare numbers to people with Medicare as part of Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authorization Act (MACRA) of 2015. This is to protect you against identity theft and fraud. The new ID Cards will include a unique Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) which will replace the Social Security Numbers (SSNs)-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN). Your MBI will be the one you will use for Medicare transactions like billing, eligibility status, claim status and the like. Your card is mailed at no cost to the address you have on file with Social Security. Visit my Social Security account if you need to update your official mailing address. So what does the MBI look like? MBI has 11-characters in length and made up only of numbers and uppercase letters(no special characters) except for the letters S, L, O, I, B, and Z to avoid confusion. Your benefits will not change with the new MBI and it’s effective date is the same a...