At Doctor's Office Give Them Your new MEDICARE Number NOT your SS Number

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Seniors who have received their new Medicare Card need to be aware when your doctor, new or regular, asks for your Social Security Number DO NOT give it to them as that number has been replaced with the new Medicare number. I found this out the hard way as I needed to make an appointment with my urologist to deal with a bladder infection and the receptionist asked for my Medicare number which I automatically gave from having memorized it for over 20 years and gave the letter A at the end and the receptionist could not find it and would not give me an appointment.

I had to go to a facility like Patient First because they already had the number and they could not do all the services a urologist does and as a result it is taking longer to deal with the problem now having to wait on the culture sample and the medication prescribed is not working as I had hoped. If only I had remembered to give them the Medicare number and not the SS number I would not be having this problem.

So remember this advice the next time you visit your doctors office, regular or new, give them your NEW Medicare number NOT your Social Security number usually ending with the letter, "A". the new Medicare number does not at all follow the format of your Social Security number with several letters and numbers.

And pass this on to others please
 

Are they still sending out the new Medicare cards? Neither I nor the Spousal Equivalent have received ours yet. What are you supposed to do if your card hasn't come and you need to go to the doctor?

I would have assumed that Medicare would continue processing claims under either number for a certain number of months because of people who didn't get their new cards in time....
 

DaveA said:
We haven't received ours either but at a doctors visit last week, they just asked if I still had Medicare and my supplementary insurance. Didn't ask to see either card ?
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That was my last experience as well. I have an appointment coming next month, I'll note if it changes.
 
jujube said:
Are they still sending out the new Medicare cards? Neither I nor the Spousal Equivalent have received ours yet. What are you supposed to do if your card hasn't come and you need to go to the doctor?

I would have assumed that Medicare would continue processing claims under either number for a certain number of months because of people who didn't get their new cards in time....
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I haven't received mine yet, but did get a notice that it's coming in my last premium bill, they haven't even mailed it yet. I think you just keep using the old card until the new one comes. There's info on this site with a map of the US that shows what delivery processes of individual states. https://www.medicare.gov/newcard/
 
Having posted yesterday, saying that our cards hadn't arrived. I'm back today to tell you that both mine and my wife's arrived in today's mail.

I guess we're safe to "splurge' on doctor's visits.:D
 
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I haven't received my card yet either.

I understand they are sent out in groups based on your location.
 
Havent received mine either. There was a communication from medicare saying it would take a yr for all cards to be mailed out. I wouldnt hold my breath.
 
I got my new medicare card last week but that's not what I use anyway. Our state retiree benefits program's insurers issue their own cards and we're instructed not to use the government issued ones. So every since I got on medicare 6 years ago, I didn't have to worry about using the one with my SS # on it. It's about time they did this though...I'd been saying they needed to for years.
 
I haven't gotten mine yet either and I have to go to a new doctor this week. I wish it would come before then so I wouldn't have to give my SS#. But, I had better not count on it.
 
I didn't receive mine either, but I got an email telling me to call 1-800-MEDICARE to notify them. I did it with some misgivings, as how did I know this was on the level? Turned out it was,
if you google Medicare's phone number that's the one that comes up, and they were very pleasant to deal with and sent out my card pretty quickly. (They said it might take as long as 4 months! but
it arrived in about a week.)
 
Last yr,when I was eligible to sign up for SSbenefits,I was sent a card with my SS # ,wasn't happy about that.
A couple days ago I received my new card without the#,one less thing to worry about Sue
 
I didn't have any choice when I went to the doctor today because I haven't received my new one yet.
 
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