LEE COUNTY, Fla.-- The federal government will be rolling out new Medicare cards in the coming weeks.
Although these new cards are designed to protect against identity theft, new changes often bring new scams. For the nearly 58-million Medicare beneficiaries who are expected to start receiving their new cards, the Lee County Sheriff's Office has some information you should know.
Cards will be introduced at the beginning of April and are expected to get to everyone by April of 2019. Floridians are expected to begin receiving cards in June. However, this may cause confusion for seasonal residents. It is not unusual for you and someone you know to get your cards at different times, even if you both live in Florida.
The new cards will automatically come to you. There is no need to contact anyone to get the cards. But if your address has changed, you should report the changes to the Social Security office. You will never receive an unsolicited call from and Medicare representative.
These new cards will look different. That's to prevent identity theft. Social security numbers will not be printed on the cards. Instead there will be a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) made up of letters and numbers.
Once you receive your new card, you should shred your old one.
