North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey advises senior citizens who have not received a new Medicare card to contact the federal agency, either by phone or online, to check on the status of their new card.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finished a round of mailing out new cards to North Carolinians. The Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program and North Carolina Senior Medicare Patrol encourage Medicare beneficiaries who have not received their new card to contact CMS by:

• Signing into MyMedicare.gov to see if one’s card has been mailed. If so, beneficiaries can print out an official card. Beneficiaries will need to create an account if they do not already have one.

• Calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), where CMS will verify beneficiaries’ identity, check their address and help them get a new card. 

The new cards will no longer have the beneficiary’s Social Security number. Instead, it will have a new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier consisting of both numbers and letters. 

“Having Social Security numbers removed from Medicare cards helps fight identity theft and will protect your medical and financial information,” Causey said.

SHIIP and SMP remind people with Medicare that they can still get care using either their former Social Security number or their new MBI for all Medicare transactions through Dec. 31, 2019. 

Those interested in learning more about Medicare, including open enrollment, may call SHIIP at 855-408-1212.

– Submitted article