Insurance Companies and Self-Insureds that process claims for workers’ compensation, liability and no-fault claims (Primary Plans) involving Medicare beneficiary claimants need a better way to obtain information about Medicare Advantage and Part D Drug Plans that may have a claim for conditional payment reimbursement.
Numerous lawsuits have been filed across the Country demanding double damages for failure to reimburse Medicare Advantage and Part D Drug Plans.
These Private Medicare Plans advocate that they have the same recovery rights as traditional Medicare. Thus far, they have convinced two U.S. Court Circuits (3rd and 11th) that they are correct.
For Alabama, George, Florida, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Primary Plans are challenged to find out the identity of Private Medicare Plans at time of settlement. There is no central database for this information that is available. Consequently, they must rely on Claimants and their attorneys for the information which prove unreliable leading to costly lawsuits.
The solution to all of this may be a simple piece of legislation pending in both houses of Congress (H.R. 1375 and S. 1989).
The Provide Accurate Information Directly (PAID Act) aims to address current challenges claims payers have in determining Part C and Part D enrollment with identifying potential reimbursement claims.
Senate Bill 1989, which is identical to the House version, proposes that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) expand its Section 111 Query Process to identify whether an individual is, or during the preceding three-year (3) period, was enrolled in Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage) and/or Medicare Part D (Prescription Drugs) plan, and provide the name and address of each plan identified during the preceding three year (3) period.
As with the House bill, Senate Bill 1989 does not require CMS to also return information on an individual’s Medicaid enrollment which was previously included in a prior version of the PAID Act introduced in the last Congressional session.
The legislation, initially introduced in the 115th Congress, has been updated to eliminate Medicaid references from the bill at the request of CMS through technical assistance. In December 2018 CBO scored the legislation as saving $25 million.
Passage of the PAID Act will allow settling parties to repay MSP amounts, and allow for the coordination of benefits, by requiring CMS to share the needed information.