How to get an alert when your new Medicare card is mailed

Michael Timmermann | September 20th, 2018

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Have you been wondering when your new Medicare card will show up in the mailbox? Now there’s a way to find out!

In a move to combat medical identity theft, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is issuing new cards that no longer include Social Security numbers.

You’ve probably heard about this for a few years, but it’s finally happening!

Where’s my new Medicare card?

New Medicare cards will gradually be mailed to everyone with Medicare based on geographic location and other factors. Here’s what the new paper cards look like:

You can sign up to receive an email when your card is in the mail at medicare.gov/newcard. All you have to do is enter your email address and state. This map from Medicare shows where things stand as of September 2018:

Medicare.gov

This is important: Medicare will automatically mail your new card for free to the address you have on file with Social Security. Click here if you need to update your mailing address.

More details

The SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) is being replaced with an 11-character Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI), which is made up of numbers and uppercase letters.

Each MBI is randomly generated and the characters don’t have any hidden or special meaning.

Once you receive your new Medicare card with an MBI, you can use it right away and destroy your old card. Your coverage and benefits will stay the same.