Tag: UnitedHealthcare
Social Security Error Jeopardizes Medicare Coverage For 250,000 Seniors
By Susan Jaffe | Kaiser Health News | June 6, 2019 | This KHN story also ran on 
At least a quarter of a million Medicare beneficiaries may receive bills for as many as five months of premiums they thought they already paid.
But they shouldn’t toss the letter in the garbage. It’s not a scam or a mistake.
Because of what the Social Security Administration calls “a processing error” that occurred in January, it did not deduct premiums from some seniors’ Social Security checks and it didn’t pay the insurance plans.
[Continued at Kaiser Health News or NPR ]
…Trumpeted New Medicare Advantage Benefits Will Be Hard For Seniors To Find
By Susan Jaffe | Kaiser Health News | November 9, 2018 | This KHN story also ran on
For some older adults, private Medicare Advantage plans next year will offer a host of new benefits, such as transportation to medical appointments, home-delivered meals, wheelchair ramps, bathroom grab bars or air conditioners for asthma sufferers.
But the new benefits will not be widely available, and they won’t be easy to find.
Of the 3,700 plans across the country next year, only 273 in 21 states will offer at least one. About 7 percent of Advantage members — 1.5 million people — will have access, Medicare officials estimate.
That means even for the savviest shoppers it will be a challenge to figure out which plans offer the new benefits and who qualifies for them.
Medicare officials have touted the expansion as historic and an innovative way to keep seniors healthy and independent. Despite that enthusiasm, a full listing of the new services is not available on the web-based “Medicare Plan Finder,” the government tool used by beneficiaries, counselors and insurance agents to sort through dozens of plan options. [Continued at Kaiser Health News, NPR and CNN]…
Medicare Advantage Plans Need Tougher Oversight, GAO Says
| Connecticut Health Investigative Team Writer | October 5, 2015
Federal investigators have found that Medicare officials rarely enforce rules for private insurance plans intended to make sure beneficiaries will be able to see a doctor when they need care.
It’s a problem many Connecticut seniors know too well. In 2013, UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurance company, dropped hundreds of health care providers from its 
Connecticut Medicare Advantage plan, including 1,200 doctors at the Yale Medical Group and Yale-New Haven Hospital. Medicare Advantage beneficiaries scrambled to find new insurance or new doctors while the Fairfield and Hartford counties medical associations went to court to try to stop the terminations.
The report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said that Medicare did not check provider networks to ensure that doctors were available to beneficiaries and cited Connecticut as a “case study” in what can go wrong.
The GAO report shows that Medicare “was not verifying network adequacy. That’s their job and they abdicated that responsibility,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-New Haven, who requested the investigation along with other members of the Connecticut congressional delegation. MORE
…Obamacare, Private Medicare Plans Must Keep Updated Doctor Directories In 2016
By Susan Jaffe | March 9, 2015 | Kaiser Health News and also published in 
Starting next year, the federal government will require health insurers to give millions of Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans or in policies sold in the federally run health exchange up-to-date details about which doctors are in their plans 
and taking new patients.
Medicare Advantage plans and most exchange plans restrict coverage to a network of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that can change during the year. Networks can also vary among plans offered by the same insurer. So it’s not always easy to figure out who’s in and who’s out, and many consumers have complained that their health coverage doesn’t amount to much if they can’t find doctors who accept their insurance. [More from KHN] [More in USA Today]
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Medicare May Help Seniors If Advantage Plans Drop Doctors
By Susan Jaffe | December 23, 2014 Connecticut Health Investigative Team and The Hartford Courant
Next year, seniors with private Medicare Advantage insurance policies whose doctors leave their plan may be able to leave, too, under a new Medicare rule.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversee Medicare Advantage programs, will create a special three-month enrollment period in any state 
where insurers make network changes “considered significant based on the affect or potential to affect, current plan enrollees,” according to an update to Medicare’s Managed Care Manual.
The special enrollment period – if granted by CMS – would allow Medicare Advantage members to 
switch out of their plans and join traditional Medicare or another Medicare Advantage plan whose provider network includes their doctors.
…U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal criticized the new rule because it’s not clear what “significant” network changes would trigger a special enrollment period. Instead, he spearheaded a letter sent last Friday to Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner, asking her to prohibit mid-year provider network changes. The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Rand Paul of Kentucky, along with U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro, Joe Courtney, Jim Himes, Elizabeth Esty and 13 other members of Congress.
“This blatant bait and switch should not be allowed,” they wrote. [CONTINUED in Connecticut Health Investigative Team and in The Courant ] …
Medicare To Offer Help To Some Seniors When Advantage Plans Drop Doctors
By Susan Jaffe | December 22, 2014 | Kaiser Health News and also published in
Starting next year, the government will offer some seniors enrolled in private Medicare Advantage insurance an opportunity to leave those plans if they lose their doctors or other health care providers.
Last year, thousands of seniors in at least 10 states were left stranded or assigned new doctors when insurers discontinued contracts with the physicians. Medicare Advantage policies cover 16 million seniors and are an alternative to the government-run Medicare program. Medicare Advantage members can only get care from a network of providers under contract to participate in their plan. They must remain in their plans for the calendar year, with some rare exceptions, but losing their doctor has not been among the permitted reasons. [More from KHN] [More in USA Today]
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Judge’s Medicare Advantage Order Could Have National Impact
By Susan Jaffe | December 6, 2013 | Kaiser Health News produced in collaboration with
In a decision that could have national implications, a federal judge in Connecticut temporarily blocked UnitedHealthcare late Thursday from dropping an estimated 2,200 physicians from its Medicare Advantage plan in that state. While the judge’s decision affects only the physicians in Fairfield and Hartford Counties who brought suit, several other medical groups are considering filing similar actions.
“This is very good news from Connecticut,” said Dr. Sam L. Unterricht, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York. “We will definitely seriously consider filing a suit in New York as well.” [Continued in Kaiser Health News and USA Today]
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By Susan Jaffe | November 29, 2013 | Kaiser Health News produced in collaboration with
Dorathy Senay’s doctor had some bad news after her last checkup, but it wasn’t about her serious blood disorder called amyloidosis. Her Medicare Advantage managed care plan from UnitedHealthcare/AARP is terminating the doctor’s contract Feb. 1. She is also losing her oncologist at the prestigious Yale Medical Group — the entire 1,200 physician practice was axed. Senay, 71, of Canterbury, Conn., is among thousands of UnitedHealthcare Medicare members in 10 states whose doctors will be cut from their plan network.
The company is the largest Medicare Advantage insurer in the country, with nearly 3 million members. More than 14 million older or disabled Americans are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, an alternative to traditional Medicare that offers medical and usually drug coverage but members have to use the plan’s network of providers.
“I have a rare incurable disease and these doctors have saved my life,” said Senay. “I am in good hands and I will not change doctors.”
…Medicare officials review the private plans every year to make sure they comply with network adequacy and other requirements, but the agency did not approve the reconfigured networks resulting from the new provider cancelations. Spokesman Raymond Thorn said the agency “is currently reviewing UHC and other plans’ provider networks and closely monitoring all areas that have experienced disruptions to ensure that beneficiaries have full, transparent and timely information and access to needed care.” [More from KHN] [More in USA Today]