New Medicare Cards On The Way, Beware Of Scams

New Medicare cards will be going out to Tennesseans starting in June.

Tennessee Senior Medicare Patrol Program Coordinator Loni Hitchcock said residents need to watch out for some scams as those cards begin to arrive.

“One of the scams is someone calling and claiming to be from Medicare. They tell the person that there is a charge or processing fee to get these new cards,” Hitchcock said. “That’s a scam and that’s not correct. These new cards are free of charge and not costing beneficiaries anything to get them.

Hitchcock said the new Medicare cards will not be social security number based in order to cut down on medical identity theft.

Another scam involves someone claiming to be from the Medicare Help Center.

“They’re asking for the person’s old number just to confirm that they will be getting their new number or card in the mail,” Hitchcock said. “The old numbers are social security number based, so they’re getting social security numbers that way.”

Hitchcock said folks should never give out personal information over the phone.