As of the beginning of April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have begun mailing new Medicare cards to beneficiaries across the country. They are set to be mailed out in waves over the next 20 months, with the final wave set to be mailed out in December 2019. We’ll discuss why they are doing this and what this means below.
The big reason for the new cards is that they are phasing out the use of Social Security Numbers (SSNs). Instead of having a person’s SSN printed on there, each person will have a Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN). This is being done to fight identity theft. The change comes after many years of requests from various advocacy groups and government agencies.
For now, you can still use social security numbers when making claims. However, starting in January 2020, for most cases, you will have to use the newly assigned HICN instead.
For more information go to the following link:
