The California Health Advocates & California Senior Medicare Patrol has received numerous reports about a phone scam pertaining to the new Medicare benefit cards. Scammers tell beneficiaries they need to purchase a temporary Medicare card with the cost ranging from $5–$50 and are requesting personal information over the phone; this is not true.

In California, new Medicare cards are being mailed to beneficiaries through the months of April 2018 and June 2018. The new cards are free and there is no cost to you. You can update mailing address at http://ssa.gov/myaccount.

The California Senior Medicare Patrol offers a flyer in seven different languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, and Farsi which describes this phone scam.

If you are interested in learning more about the New Medicare Card Phone Scam, speak with a Community Resource Specialist: (408) 350-3200, option 1.