New Medicare Secondary Payer Legislation - A Win For Beneficiaries And The Medicare Trust Fund

​For years, the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) process has frustrated the ability of Medicare beneficiaries and companies to resolve disputed claims. Whether the disputes have involved workers compensation claims, general tort claims, or no-fault claims (such as auto insurance), settlements have been delayed, if not prevented, due to the uncertainties of how much was owed to Medicare for its payments on behalf of a beneficiary for treating the injury that was the subject of the claim. The problem was a classic “chicken-egg” dilemma: Medicare took the view (and not unrightly so) that until disputing parties settled a claim it was not “secondary”. Thus, Medicare could not calculate the amount owed, while parties could not settle without knowing how and with how much to resolve their undefined Medicare liabilities.

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