By Jan Cammack, Broker and Medicare Specialist for GHB Insurance

You may have heard that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is issuing new Medicare Cards. Your new card will have a new Medicare Number that’s unique to you, replacing your Social Security Number, which helps protect your identity.

Follow this link to find out where they have started issuing new Medicare Cards.  There is a map and a list of each state with its mailing status. They started with Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, DC, Virginia and West Virginia.

It will take 18 months to send out all the cards so they may not get to Washington state just yet. You can sign up to receive an email when your card is in the mail!

Once you receive your new card Medicare.gov says to “destroy your old Medicare card and start using your new card right away.”