New Medicare cards, which will begin mailing in April 2018, will no longer include Social Security numbers. This Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fraud prevention initiative will help combat identity theft and safeguard taxpayer dollars.
The new cards will use a unique, randomly-assigned number called a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI), which will replace the Social Security-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) currently used on Medicare cards. CMS will begin mailing new cards in April 2018, with a congressional deadline for replacing all Medicare cards by April 2019.
Read about the multi-faceted CMS outreach campaign to help providers get ready for the new MBI system: Medicare cards news release
