Medicare Card Mailing

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continues the process of replacing Social Security Number (SSN)- based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) Medicare cards with new Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBI). CMS is currently in the fourth mailing phase which includes New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The first two phases of Medicare card mailings are complete and phase three is still being mailed. New Medicare cards are continuously being mailed nationwide to newly eligible Medicare beneficiaries. CMS is attempting to mail out all new MBI by April 2019. For more information on MBI cards, click here.

Providers are also advised to be prepared to accept both HICN and MBI cards until January 2020 when only MBI will be accepted. If you do not already have access to your Medicare Administrator Contractor (MAC) provider portal, sign up so you can use the provider MBI look up tool which is currently available.  

Contact: Ken Allison, kallison@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8820