Husband Got Issued a New Medicare Card

officerripley

officerripley

SF VIP
Location
Porlock, Calif
Today, Huzz received in the mail a new Medicare card and a letter from the Dept. of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that said:

"IMPORTANT: You have a new Medicare card & number
Medicare found an issue with your Medicare number. To protect your identity and prevent fraud, we're giving you a new card with a new Medicare Number."

Then it goes on about when it takes effect (next month) and then to destroy the old card. I'd heard they'd had a data breach, but that was last year. I researched it online and it said that you'll get a new card with a new number if there was fraud with your old number. But all this says is there's "an issue" with his old number.

I'm going to check his account online but wonder, has anybody else gotten this?
 
officerripley said:
Today, Huzz received in the mail a new Medicare card and a letter from the Dept. of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that said:

"IMPORTANT: You have a new Medicare card & number
Medicare found an issue with your Medicare number. To protect your identity and prevent fraud, we're giving you a new card with a new Medicare Number."

Then it goes on about when it takes effect (next month) and then to destroy the old card. I'd heard they'd had a data breach, but that was last year. I researched it online and it said that you'll get a new card with a new number if there was fraud with your old number. But all this says is there's "an issue" with his old number.

I'm going to check his account online but wonder, has anybody else gotten this?
Click to expand...
Iā€™d directly call Medicare and see if this is legit.
 
I got a new Medicare card what seems like a couple of years ago now. But that's not the card I use anyway. Our State Health Benefits Plan (SHBP) let us know that we are not to use that card but the one connected to the insurance SHBP offers, so I've always used my Aetna Medicare card. Not all employees and retirees are on the same plan. Horizon is also offered. I agree with @PeppermintPatty, better to err on the side of caution and call Medicare.
 
officerripley said:
Today, Huzz received in the mail a new Medicare card and a letter from the Dept. of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that said:

"IMPORTANT: You have a new Medicare card & number
Medicare found an issue with your Medicare number. To protect your identity and prevent fraud, we're giving you a new card with a new Medicare Number."

Then it goes on about when it takes effect (next month) and then to destroy the old card. I'd heard they'd had a data breach, but that was last year. I researched it online and it said that you'll get a new card with a new number if there was fraud with your old number. But all this says is there's "an issue" with his old number.

I'm going to check his account online but wonder, has anybody else gotten this?
Click to expand...
You don't think this is a scam do you? That is so strange.
 
officerripley said:
Today, Huzz received in the mail a new Medicare card and a letter from the Dept. of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that said:

"IMPORTANT: You have a new Medicare card & number
Medicare found an issue with your Medicare number. To protect your identity and prevent fraud, we're giving you a new card with a new Medicare Number."

Then it goes on about when it takes effect (next month) and then to destroy the old card. I'd heard they'd had a data breach, but that was last year. I researched it online and it said that you'll get a new card with a new number if there was fraud with your old number. But all this says is there's "an issue" with his old number.

I'm going to check his account online but wonder, has anybody else gotten this?
Click to expand...
Yes, just a few months ago I got a new Medicare card with a letter identical to the one you described. I verified it's authenticity by accessing my online Medicare account. I also called Humana who is my Advantage plan provider to ask if they needed the new number. [They must have the number since my premium is deducted from my SS benefit.] She asked me for the first 4 digits of the new number, then she read off the remaining digits - that way both of us knew we were talking about the same (new) number.

Medicare did not inform me what the "issue" was with my old number, but I assume some provider attempted to file a fraudulent claim on it.
 
In my case, I did get a new card and number, but there was a good reason. Last year, there was a fraudulent claim. When I read the Medicare summary, I knew something was wrong. Wrong medical diagnosis, had expensive supplies on claim.
I do not have Diabetes and received no supplies for that, doctor's name was wrong also. So I called the Medicare number and they agreed that it must be fraud. Quite a while later, they contacted me. Several new Medicare accounts were opened with my info, but different addresses used. Medicare discovered the obvious red flags after the accounts were open. So I asked for and received a new Medicare card and number. Had to notify my doctors of the change. Also checked with the credit bureaus and took some precautions there. Changed out my debit card and credit card. It actually was considered identity theft, although it was not exactly what people think of when they hear that term.
 
Originally SS numbers were on our cards, several years ago they started using issued random numbers. New cards will always display the same number as the one being replaced.
 
StarSong said:
I don't think that's what's being described in this thread. Seems they're getting new numbers because of fraud threats.
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They changed the system to not show your SS numbers. They can at any time issue another number if needed. Like our past service numbers , they once showed RA for regular Army not a draftee, US was all draftees. All veteran records until that change had the old service numbers. I'm sure it is all about making fraud much harder. In the mid 70s the Building that held microfiche complete service records of veterans burned to the ground. They lost over a hundred thousand service records. It reminds me of the recent finding of retired civil service or government workers records not on electronic records, but stored in a bunker. Makes you wonder who was in charge of all things ! :)
 
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