It is official and about time! Medicare will no longer use your Social Security number on your Medicare card. I have been telling people for years not to carry their Medicare card unless necessary since it contains your Social Security number. With feedback from providers and the spike in identity theft, Medicare has decided that it makes sense to change the current practice. 
The change is coming a bit late compared to the rest of the industry. Private insurance companies no longer use Social Security numbers to identify card holders, and the federal government has also forbidden insurers from using the numbers on insurance cards when medical or drug benefits are provided through Medicare contracts.
This new change will take time to implement. Medicare has up to four years to start issuing the new cards, and four more years to reissue current cards.
