Where’s My New Medicare Card? How to Find Out the Status

The federal government has begun mailing new Medicare cards to 59 million Americans. You should keep track of when your new card will arrive and contact Medicare if you don’t receive it.

To prevent fraud and fight identity theft, the federal government is issuing new cards to all Medicare beneficiaries that will no longer have beneficiaries’ Social Security numbers on them. The government began mailing the cards in April 2018 and the new cards should be completely distributed by April 2019. The cards are being mailed in phases based on the state the beneficiary lives in.

To check the status of card mailing in your state, go here: https://www.medicare.gov/newcard/. The map will show whether Medicare has sent new cards to your state. For the state of Pennsylvania, all mailings are complete. Once Medicare has mailed the cards, it can take up to a month to receive the card. If the government has finished mailing the cards to your state, and you did not receive a card, contact Medicare right away at 1-800-MEDICARE (633-4227) or 1-877-486-2048 for TTY users.

If you haven’t received the new card yet, keep using the old card. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, the Medicare Advantage Plan ID card is your main card, but your doctor may want to see your new Medicare card as well, so keep it handy.

A word of warning… it has also been reported that phone scammers are using the introduction of the new cards as an opportunity to separate Medicare beneficiaries from their money. One of the main scams that has emerged is a call requiring payment before the card can be issued. The cards are free and you don’t need to do anything to get yours. For more on the scams and what to do if you fall victim, see Reuters columnist Mark Miller’s recent column.

For information on the new cards, go here: https://www.medicare.gov/newcard/.  And for more information on Medicaid benefits and how to plan for long term care, please call Zacharia Brown at 724.942.6200  to schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys or visit our website at PittsburghElderLaw.com.