Medicare cards no longer list social security numbers. Instead, they include an 11-character ID of numbers and letters linked to an individual’s Medicare account. 

“Your Social Security number is kind of like a master key to your house," said Greg Dill with Arizona’s Medicare program. "If somebody gets your Social Security number, they can open many doors in your house. What’s different about the new medicare number is that it’s just one key to one door.”

State Attorney General Mark Brnovich said this change will hopefully decrease Medicare fraud. He says the long-term goal is for agencies to stop using a social security number as an identifier.