Medicare Beneficiaries to get More Secure ID Cards from CMS

New identification cards will be getting by Medicare Beneficiaries that are more secure beginning next year, the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) said.

The latest ID cards, which CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) will start mailing in the year of April 2018, will drop beneficiaries' current identification numbers -- which are deployed on their Social Security numbers -- and rather use "a distinctive, randomly-assigned number known as a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI)," the agency claimed in a press release.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in the release, "We are taking this step to secure our seniors from deceptive or fraudulent use of Social Security numbers which can lead to identity theft and illegal use of Medicare benefits."