The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that new Medicare cards will be sent out to all enrollees next month. The new cards will be mailed directly to you. To better protect your sensitive information, the new card will provide you with a unique Medicare Number, rather than using your Social Security number. You should still protect your new Medicare Number as you would any other piece of sensitive information. Only share your Medicare Number with a trusted individual assisting you with your Medicare benefits.
Scammers try to take advantage of announcements like these. If you’re on Medicare, you do not have to apply, call, or pay for the new cards; you don’t have to do anything except check the mail for your new card! No one representing Medicare will ever call you and ask for personal or private information to receive your new card. Please be alert to these scammers. If someone calls and asks you for your personal information, demands that you pay anything, or threatens to cancel your benefits, please hang up and immediately contact Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or my Minneola office at 352-241-9220.
Congressman Daniel Webster represents The Villages in the U.S. House of Representatives.
