Beginning in April 2018 CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) will begin mailing out new Medicare cards to all Medicare recipients. The new cards will no longer have our Social Security Numbers on the cards. Instead, the replacement cards will have a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier or MBI.

The change is part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) which requires CMS to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards by April 2019. As stated above CMS will begin mailing the new cards in April 2018.

Please remember that your new MBI number is confidential and should be protected just like your Social Security Number.

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 will affect Medicare beneficiaries in other ways and I will be posting an article about that next week.

To read or download all the details of the Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI) click here.

If you have any questions or concerns please call or email me. I am here to help.