Your Money Adviser: New Medicare Cards Are Being Issued. Here’s What You Need to Know.

You can check a special section of the Medicare.gov website to see where cards have been mailed, and you can enter your email to be notified when mailings begin in your state.

Here are some questions and answers about the new Medicare cards:

The Medicare website says new cards were mailed to my state, but I don’t have mine yet. What should I do?

It takes time for the cards in each wave to be mailed, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. The agency suggests checking your MyMedicare.gov account to see if one was mailed. (You’ll need to establish an account if you don’t have one.) If it was mailed, you can print a new official card. Or, call 1-800-MEDICARE to see if your information, like your mailing address, needs to be updated.

It’s a good idea to check that the Social Security Administration has your current mailing address, since that’s the one Medicare uses, said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. He recommends doing so by creating an online “my Social Security account” if you haven’t already. Or call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213.

Everyone on Medicare should have a new card by April. But to allow for a transition period, doctors can accept the old cards until Dec. 31, 2019, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services said.

What should I do with my old Medicare card?

Once you receive the new card, you can start taking it to your doctor visits and destroy your old card, the agency advises. Ms. Nofziger of AARP recommends using a “confetti” shredder to destroy the old card.

What if I am signing up for Medicare for the first time?

New enrollees will receive cards with the new, unique Medicare numbers.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/new-medicare-cards.html?partner=rss&emc=rss