New Medicare Cards Mailed beginning in April; Be Cautious of Scammers

Starting in April, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin mailing new Medicare cards to all people with Medicare, including 126,000 in North Dakota.

Instead of a Social Security number, the new card will have a Medicare number that’s unique to each person with Medicare. The new card will help protect your identity and keep your personal information more secure. Medicare coverage and benefits will stay the same.

Medicare will automatically mail new cards at no cost to the address on file at Social Security. So making sure the address of anyone you’re helping is up-to-date is important. An address can be updated easily by signing in to or creating a my Social Security account.

Once you receive your new Medicare card:

• Destroy your old Medicare card right away.
• Use your new card. Doctors, other health care providers, and plans approved by Medicare know that Medicare is replacing the old cards. They are ready to accept your new card when you need care.
• Beware of people contacting you about your new Medicare card and asking you for your Medicare number, personal information, bank account information, or to pay a fee for your new card. Treat your Medicare number like you treat your Social Security or credit card numbers. Remember, Medicare will never contact you uninvited to ask for your personal information.

Ironically, the card replacement program has opened these new opportunities for con artists:

• Scammers reportedly pose as Medicare representatives and contact beneficiaries to demand immediate payment via credit card of a processing fee for the new card. No such fee exists.
• In other cases, the scammers falsely say that Medicare needs to “verify” a recipient’s Social Security number or other personal information before issuing the card. Medicare says it does not make such calls and does not initiate uninvited contact.
• Yet another version of the scam tells beneficiaries that they are due a refund on transactions with their old card, and asks them to provide bank account information for the processing of the alleged refund.

Is someone calls claiming to be from Medicare, and asks for your Social Security number or bank information, just hang up. It’s a scam. Medicare won’t call you and Medicare will never ask for your Social Security number or bank information. And remember you don't have to pay for the new card.

For more information about the new Medicare card, visit go.medicare.gov/newcard. You can also visit Medicare.gov for tips to prevent Medicare fraud.

We are encouraging AARP members in North Dakota to sign up to receive email from AARP North Dakota about upcoming events and other news. Go to http://www.aarp.org/yes2emailND. If you don’t already have an account on the AARP website, you’ll have to create one (by entering a user name and password) before you can opt in to receive our email.

You’ll receive emails about upcoming events such as lunch and learns, Movies for Grownups, and free document shredding. We’ll also periodically send you an email with other news from AARP North Dakota, such as volunteer opportunities, efforts to stop utility rate increases, and our advocacy work on behalf of North Dakotans 50 and older.

So, please opt in to receive our emails and be among the first to know about our upcoming events in your area.