MARCH 15, 2018
In April, the government will start sending
out new Medicare cards,
launching a massive, yearlong effort to alter how 59 million people enrolled in
the federal health insurance program are identified.
Historically, Medicare ID cards have been
stamped with the Social Security numbers of members — currently, about 50
million seniors and 9 million people with serious disabilities. But that’s been
problematic: If a wallet or purse were stolen, a thief could use that
information, along with an address or birthdate on a driver’s license, to steal
someone’s identity.
For years, phone scammers have preyed on older
adults by requesting their Medicare numbers, giving various reasons for doing
so. People who fall for these ruses have found bank accounts emptied, Social
Security payments diverted or bills in their mailboxes for medical services or
equipment never received.
The new cards address these concerns by
removing each member’s Social Security number and replacing it with a new,
randomly generated 11-digit “Medicare number” (some capital letters are
included). This will be used to verify eligibility for services and for billing
purposes going forward.
Such a major change can involve bumps along
the way, so there will be a transition period during which you can use either
your new Medicare card or your old card at doctors’ offices and hospitals. Both
should work until Dec. 31, 2019.
If you forget your new card at home, your
doctor’s staff should be able to look up your new Medicare number up at a
secure computer site. Or, they can use information that’s already on file during
the transition period.
“We’ve had a few people contact us and ask ‘If
I don’t have the new card at a doctor’s appointment, does that mean my provider
won’t see me?’” said Casey Schwartz, senior counsel for education and federal
policy at the Medicare Rights Center. “That shouldn’t be an issue.”
Cards will be sent to people covered by
Medicare on a rolling basis over
a 12-month period ending in April 2019. Older adults in Alaska, California,
Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and
West Virginia will be the first to receive the mailings, between April and
June, along with several U.S. territories — American Samoa, Guam and the
Northern Mariana Islands.
The last wave of states will be Kentucky,
Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee, along with
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
“If your sister who lives in another state
gets her card before you, don’t fret,” the Federal Trade Commission explained
in a new alert. Since the
cards are going out in waves, “your card may arrive at a different time than
hers.”
If you think Social Security might not have
your current address, call 1-800-772-1213 or check your online Social Security
account at https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/, the FTC
advised.
When
you get your new Medicare card, don’t throw your old one in the trash. Instead,
put it through a shredder or “spend time cutting it up with a pair of scissors”
to make sure the part showing your Social Security number is destroyed, said
Amy Nofziger, a fraud expert for AARP.
Those
numbers remain sought-after by scammers, and AARP and Senior Medicare Patrol
groups tell of receiving fraud reports related to Medicare cards since last
year.
In one
scam, reported by California’s Area 1 Agency on Aging, a caller
purporting to represent Medicare or another government agency claims to need
your bank account information so Medicare can arrange a direct deposit of funds
into your account. The new Medicare cards are used as an excuse for the call.
In
another, circulating in Iowa,
scammers are threatening to cancel seniors’ health insurance if they don’t give
out their current Medicare card numbers. “We’re telling people, don’t ever give
someone this number — just hang up,” said Nancy Ketcham, elder rights
specialist at the Elderbridge Agency on Aging, which
A month ago, Alfonso Hernandez, 65, who lives
in Moreno Valley, Calif., received a call from a man who told him, in Spanish,
that Medicare was going to issue new cards and that he needed to verify some
information, including Hernandez’s name, address and Social Security number.
“I said no, normally, I don’t give my Social
Security number to anyone,” Hernandez said. At that point, the caller put his
“supervisor” on the phone, who said the government needed to make sure it had
correct information. Caught off guard, Hernandez recited his Social Security
number and, “as soon as I did that, they hung up.”
“Immediately, I’m like ‘oh my God, what did I
do,’” said Hernandez, who quickly contacted credit agencies to have them put an
alert on his account. “I just keep praying that nothing happens.”
Just last week, California’s Senior Medicare
Patrol program received a report of another scam detected in Riverside County:
a caller claiming that before a senior can get a new Medicare card, he or she
has to pay $5 to $50 for a new “temporary” card, according to Sandy Morales, a
case manager with the program.
Nofziger of AARP said a Medicare
representative will never contact an older adult by phone or email about the
new cards and will certainly “never ask for money or personal information or
threaten to cancel your health benefits.” The new Medicare cards are free and
you don’t need to do anything to receive one: They’re being sent automatically
to everyone enrolled in the program. Don’t give out any information to callers
who contact you by phone, she advised.
If you suspect fraud, report it to the FTC ,
AARP’s fraud help line, 1-877-908-3360, or your local
Senior Medicare Patrol program.
If you’re among nearly 18 million seniors and
people with serious disabilities who have coverage through a Medicare Advantage
plan, keep the card that your plan issued you. Medicare Advantage plans are
offered by private insurance companies, which have their own way of identifying
members. Similarly, if you have prescription drug coverage through Medicare —
another benefit offered through private insurance companies – keep your card
for that plan as well.
KHN’s coverage related to
aging and improving care of older adults is supported in part by The John A. Hartford Foundation.
Judith Graham: @judith_graham
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