Medicare.gov to deploy ID.me for beneficiary verification

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has tapped ID.me to verify the identities of beneficiaries on Medicare.gov, according to a Tuesday announcement from the identity-proofing company. 

ID.me will be available as an option for identity verification and sign-in on Medicare.gov starting in early 2026, per the release. The deal adds to the growing number of federal programs opting to use the digital identity service that leverages facial recognition technology and has been the subject of some controversy in the past.

Already, ID.me is used at 21 federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs, per the release. Opting in means an ID.me user could sign in with the same credentials at any of the other federal, state or private-sector entities that use the service, the company said in a statement to FedScoop. 

“By extending ID.me’s high-assurance identity capabilities across CMS and Medicare.gov, we’re creating a more unified patient experience while strengthening overall program integrity,” Blake Hall, founder & CEO of ID.me, said in a statement included in the company’s release.

According to ID.me’s website, the company uses a combination of a user’s ID — such as a driver’s license or passport — a selfie, and a Social Security number to verify identity. 

Its use at other government agencies has received pushback from lawmakers and civil rights groups, as well as watchdog scrutiny. 

In 2022, then-Democratic leaders on the House Oversight Committee said ID.me had downplayed wait times for users applying for unemployment benefits with the IRS. The same year, civil rights organizations called on state and federal entities to halt use of ID.me, citing concerns that facial recognition technology disproportionately impacts people of color and marginalized communities.

The company also faced controversy for being provided without an alternative at the IRS, and just this summer, a congressional watchdog dinged the agency for lax oversight of the service’s use of artificial intelligence.

ID.me isn’t the only company to have recently been tapped for Medicare verification services. CLEAR, another biometric-based identity verification provider, said earlier this month it was similarly selected to support identity verification on Medicare.gov. 

CLEAR, which is widely known for its linejumping offerings at airports, will provide its CLEAR1 platform for Medicare beginning in early 2026, per that announcement. Its release specifically said its platform would be used for account creation and recovery. 

In a response to FedScoop, a spokesperson for ID.me said the new CMS deal is part of a broader contract with the Department of Health and Human Services which has been ongoing since 2022. That contract is worth roughly $5 million, according to information on USASpending.

The expansion to Medicare.gov also appears to be part of the Trump administration’s goals for interoperability through initiatives like “Kill the Clipboard,” which is a push to make intake records digital.

In a LinkedIn post about the announcement, Wes Turbeville, senior vice president of federal and healthcare for ID.me, characterized the identity verification provider as a solution for interoperability in the public and private sector. 

Turbeville pointed to what he called “avoidable friction” with the multiple agencies that have a hand in credentialing Medicare beneficiaries. Those accessing Medicare, in the past, would need credentials for the SSA, CMS, and their plan’s own website, he said. 

“Soon, 10’s of millions of Medicare beneficiaries will be able to use the same secure, portable ID.me credential at CMS that they’ve already been using at Social Security (and hundreds of other organizations across the digital economy),” Turbeville wrote.

CMS did not respond to FedScoop’s inquiries before publication of this story.