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Related sites Minnesota Attorney General's Office |
Minnesota claims Medicare discriminates
Posted
11-29-99 Minneapolis. Citing inequities in Medicare reimbursement rates for managed care, the state of Minnesota is suing the Department of Health and Human Services, saying it has lost millions of dollars because of funding disparities. The suit, filed by Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch, the Minnesota Senior Federation, and a 72-year-old Medicare beneficiary, alleges that low reimbursement rates have resulted in higher premiums and greater out-of-pocket costs for Minnesota residents enrolled in Medicare managed care programs. In bigger states such as New York and Florida, which receive more federal money, HMOs do not charge Medicare enrollees a premium or co-payment, and many offer members free prescription drugs, eyeglasses, free rides to clinics, and other benefits, according to the attorney general's office. Minnesota Medicare HMO beneficiaries, however, pay annual premiums averaging more than $1,000 without prescription drug coverage and more than $2,400 annually when prescription drugs are included. "I hear from seniors on a daily basis who are frustrated with the unfairness in their health care," Hatch said in a statement. "I continue to hear horror stories of seniors who cannot afford to pay for their prescription drugs-some seniors are being forced to make the decision between keeping shelter over their heads or food on their plates and buying their prescription drugs. This cannot be tolerated." The federal government has been following the laws set by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, said Robert Berenson, MD, director of the Center for Health Plans and Providers at the Health Care Financing Administration, in a statement. "The law typically sets the methodology that Medicare uses to determine how providers are paid, taking into account geographic differences in costs that providers face." Minnesota beneficiaries are "clearly disadvantaged" compared to those in areas such as Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Tampa, where reimbursement rates are higher and benefits are better, said Geri Dallek, project director for the Georgetown University Institute for Health Care Research and Policy. "The state of Minnesota is doing what it should do, which is trying to protect its beneficiaries. The problem is clear; the fix is not," she said.
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