HERE’S HOW MUCH I like you: I’m going to summarize this entire column in one sentence, allowing you to briskly proceed to the next important thing in your day.
Ready?
In order to comply with MACRA, CMS is implementing the SSNRI and will replace your HICN with an MBI by April 1, 2018.
You’re welcome. Have a nice day.
What? You don’t understand?
What do you mean you don’t understand?
What could make it more clear?
Sigh. Oh, alright, but I really don’t have time for this.
A new law
It seems that last year (2015, in case that’s a little vague), Congress actually managed to pass a law.
Specifically, it managed to pass the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
That little law did a number of things, but I’m just going to step around CHIP and move on to the Medicare stuff.
(What? Oh, OK. CHIP has to do with health insurance for kids, but don’t let something as inconsequential as children distract you).
The Medicare Access part means that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are now forced to develop a Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI), which will take our Social Security numbers off our Medicare cards.
I know, you’re right: It is about time, because a lot of us have been complaining about this for years.
How can you, Federal Government, beat us up about Medicare/consumer fraud and abuse while spewing our Social Security numbers (SSN) hither and yon?
Answer: “Logic” is another thing that we’ll just step around.
Besides, our Social Security numbers weren’t really Social Security numbers (well, not when they appeared on our Medicare cards).
Health Insurance Claim Numbers
When they appeared on our Medicare cards, they were actually Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICN).
We just thought that they were our Social Security numbers. Alas…
So, CMS would use our SSN-based HICNs (stay with me, this was your idea) to do business with folks in such organizations as Social Security, the Railroad Retirement Board, state Medicaid agencies, health care providers and health plans (think health insurance), so our SSN’s (sorry, HICNs) have been orbiting several galaxies while we conscientiously shredded our old Christmas cards in order to protect ourselves from identity theft.
Go figure.
Anyway, what’s going to happen is that CMS is developing a shiny, new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) that will be 11 characters in length and made up of only numbers and uppercase letters (no special characters, for the password wonks among us).
MBIs will kick in by 2018
Said MBIs will kick in by April of 2018, when we’ll start getting new Medicare cards with our new MBIs.
Apparently, there’s going to be a transition period that will run from April 2018 through December 2019 when either the HICN or MBI will work.
I can only imagine (well, I probably can’t imagine) the chaos this will cause for multitudes of computer systems throughout the Medicare universe that have been chugging along with our SSNs.
And I suspect we’ll hear more about that. But one crisis at a time.
What about previous warnings?
The Christmas card-shredders among us are already thinking, “Wait a minute. For years, you’ve been warning us about deceptive sales crap that comes in the mail, looking very official and sometimes even looking kinda like Medicare cards, and telling us to ignore it and shred it and generally ridicule it, and now you’re telling us that we’re going to get the real thing? How are we supposed to know?”
Answer: I don’t know.
No, really, I don’t.
If I knew, I’d tell you. And I’m guardedly certain (if not guardedly optimistic) that more will be revealed on that aspect of the SSNRI (it’s OK to look back and review) rollout, but something will have to be done in order for us to effectively differentiate between the scams and the card (oops … MBI).
In fairness, do I think this is a good idea? Yes.
I thought it was a good idea 30 years ago, but here we are.
And no, this will not change your Medicare benefits; this will only change your Medicare number.
Yes, I know you’re going to forget about this between now and then. I probably will, too.
Will I remind you? Yes.
What do you need to do about this between now and then?
Remain vigilant with information
Nothing, except continue to try to be as prudent, discriminating and thoughtful as possible about how you handle (and distribute) your SSN, which is also your HICN.
A final, reasonable question would be, “Why does the government insist on generating and using these weird acronyms?”
The answer is probably the same reason that businesses, corporations, multinationals and financial institutions do, but that’s probably a rant for another day.
Here’s all you really need to know for today: In order to comply with MACRA, CMS is implementing the SSNRI and will replace your HICN with an MBI by April 1, 2018.
I tried.
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Mark Harvey is director of Clallam/Jefferson Senior Information & Assistance, which operates through the Olympic Area Agency on Aging. He is also a member of the Community Advocates for Rural Elders partnership. He can be reached at 360-452-3221 (Port Angeles-Sequim), 360-385-2552 (Jefferson County) or 360-374-9496 (West End), or by emailing harvemb@dshs.wa.gov.
