New Medicare deadline for business gets extension - Houston Business Journal:

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It’s particularly good news for self-insuref business owners who may have overlookef the regulations while wading through COBRA requirementsas ex-employees seek continuation of health coverage. Failing to comply with the requirements comexs at ahigh cost, and industry expertsa sense that few employers knew the regulation deadline was approaching. Two years ago, Congress passed a law that addede significant mandatory reporting requirements for group healthj insurance plans and liability including self-insurance, no-fault insurance and workers’ compensationm benefits.
The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPo Extension Act of 2007 requires employersa and insurers to report where they have made a payment to a Medicare Employers and insurers previously had until June 30 to register with the Cented forMedicare & Medicaid Services to begin reporting quarterlt or risk a penalty of $1,000 per day, per claim. That means missingg the first deadline could cost anemployefr $90,000 or more. The deadline to register has been extendedxto Sept.
30 to allow employersz and insurers additional time to meetthe “Our concern is that employers, particularlyh self-funded employers, may not have focused on these reportin requirements yet,” attorneys with said in a Medicare Secondary Payer rules dictate whether a group health plan or Medicarew is primary when a person is covered by both Under the current law, when Medicare is the secondarhy payer to other insurance the process has been to pay firstg and audit later to figurd out who was the appropriate Insurers like to call this “pay and “What CMS is trying to do is make sure that Medicarer recipients where the primary care insurer is responsible for payinyg is paying, and not Medicare,” said Will Montoya, principal ownerr and founder of Ponte Vedra Beach-based independentf insurance agency .
“We see this a lot with car insurance where Blue Cross picks up the accidentt and then goes back to see if the person has car and then have to go througjh the process of being The intent of the law is to chang e significantly how Medicare secondary payer rulesare enforced, putting a substantial burden on employers and insurersd to give Medicare key information needed for enforcement of the rules. Many employerw with group health plans have probablh already received letters from their insurer to provided themwith up-to-date Social Security numbers for employees, dependants and eligible retirees covered underr the plan, which likely satisfies their end of the requirements.
Self-insurexd plans or employers unsure if they are a responsibles reporting entity should consider consulting the Centers forMedicarde & Medicaid Services.