Good News: Medicare Is Finally Fixing a Major Identity Theft Risk

http://time.com/money/4798468/medicare-fixing-identity-theft-risk/

It’s been years since Social Security numbers have appeared on drivers licenses or private health insurance cards, yet the government still uses these nine sensitive digits as the main identifier for the nation’s nearly 58 million Medicare recipients. This will finally start to change next spring, when Medicare is slated to begin sending out new cards that replace the Social Security number with a randomly generated beneficiary identifier.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an outreach campaign to help healthcare providers get ready for the change.“We’re taking this step to protect our seniors from fraudulent use of Social Security numbers which can lead to identity theft and illegal use of Medicare benefits,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a statement.

The government will begin sending out new cards next April, with all cards replaced by a congressional deadline of April 2019. Why the long lead time? Medicare is a big, complex bureaucracy, and replacing the cards is expensive: Officials estimated in 2011 that replacing the cards would cost between $812 million and $845 million.

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This move is long overdue. If you're on Medicare, your social security number is printed right on your Medicare card, which you have to present anytime you receive medical care. It's been a serious risk for years now.