(Radio Iowa) — New Medicare cards are going out to all Iowans in the program and that’s opened the opportunity for scammers to try and take advantage of the change. A spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Julie Brookhart, says the new cards will no longer have your Social Security number on them. She says the cards are being mailed out and you should not listen if someone tells you something different.

“Bottom line is, Medicare is not calling anyone about the cards, you are just going to get the card in the mail. So, any call you would get is a scam,” Brookhart says. Brookhart says scammers will try all sorts of things to get your money or personal information.”We’ve had people say you have to pay for the new card to get the card,” Brookhart says, “we’ve had people say ‘give me your old number’ to get the new card. Or if you don’t give me your information we are going to cancel your health benefits — and those are all scams.”

Brookhart says the new cards are free and all you have to do is bring it in from the mailbox. “There have been some agents and brokers calling people — most agents and brokers are very upstanding — we’ve had a few bad actors saying ‘If you set up an appointment with me I can get you the card quicker.’ That is not true, because it is the Medicare agency that is mailing out the new card,” according to Brookhart.

The are more than 600-thousand Iowans who are on Medicare. Brookhart says everyone in Iowa should be getting their card by they middle of this month.