New Medicare cards are breeding ground for

Medicare beneficiaries should have received notice, or at least have read about, that the current 50 million seniors and an additional 9 million people with serious disabilities will receive new Medicare cards over the next year. These cards will replace the traditional white card with red and blue stripes that are imprinted with beneficiary’s Social Security number. Cards with Social Security numbers have long been considered an identity theft risk, especially after we were cautioned not to carry our Social Security cards any longer. A Medicare card, along with a driver’s license, makes it very easy for a thief to steal one’s identity.

An article in the Washington Post quoting from Kaiser Health News speaks about some ways that scammers The new cards will be for many years have sent out on a rolling basis preyed on seniors by calling over 12 months, starting and requesting their Medicare April, 2018. Consumers in number. People who Pennsylvania will be among fell for this have had bank the first to receive the mailings accounts cleaned out, Social between this April and Security payments diverted, June. If you think that Social or received bills for items Security might not have that they never requested your current address, call or received. (https://khn. 1-800-772-1213 or check your org/news/everything-youneed-to-know-about-thenew-medicare-cards-butbeware-of-scams/). Social Security account online. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, do not discard The your current ID card; new Medicare cards try to this roll out does not affect eliminate the “low hanging Advantage plan cards, Part fruit” for scammers by replacing D prescription plan cards, or the Social Security Medicare supplement cards. number on the cards with a When you receive your randomly generated 11 digit new card, do not just throw Medicare number for consumers it in the trash. Shred the to use for services old card or spend time cutting and billing purposes. Both it up with scissors so your old card and new card that the Medicare number should work until Dec. 31, is unreadable. Do not discard 2019. your old card until you receive your new card.

Whenever there are changes that involve seniors, there will be bumps in the road at first. Unfortunately, change and resulting confusion is prime breeding ground for scam artists who have already begun their campaign to obtain information on seniors. The AARP and senior Medicare Patrol groups have been receiving fraud reports since last year. For instance, in California, callers claiming to represent Medicare or some other government agency are demanding information on bank accounts so as to arrange for a direct deposit of funds from Medicare. Another example out of California is a call to a beneficiary stating that Medicare was issuing new cards and the caller needed to verify