
The Social Security number will be removed from Medicare cards to help prevent fraud and combat identity theft.
All people with Medicare benefits will be issued a new, unique Medicare number, which contains a combination of numbers and uppercase letters. The new Medicare cards will be mailed to enrollees, with instructions to safely and securely destroy current Medicare cards and to keep the new Medicare number confidential. Issuance of the new number will not change benefits that people with Medicare receive.
There will be a 21-month transition period where doctors, healthcare providers, and