Humana Waives Retroactive Copayments For Prescription Drugs

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 08 Mar 2007 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Kentucky-based health insurer Humana will not retroactively pursue prescription drug copayments it erroneously waived for thousands of residents in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey, company spokesperson Chris Curran announced Sunday, Long Island Newsday reports. The copayments affected beneficiaries of a Connecticut prescription drug program for low-income residents, Medicare prescription drug plans and Humana's stand-alone Medicare drug plan. According to Connecticut social services officials, the beneficiaries in 2006 were accidentally placed into a category that did not charge copays for prescription drugs. After learning of the mistake, Humana announced that it would bill the beneficiaries $50 each for the unpaid costs. Beneficiaries and state officials protested the charge, and Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell (R) said the state would try to prevent the insurer from pursuing the payments. Curran said that the company initially issued the charge to meet CMS' statutory requirements but that Humana now is working with the agency and others to fix the problem. He added that beneficiaries soon will receive a letter saying that they will not have to pay. "We figured the affected members likely couldn't afford those back payments," Curran said, adding, "As a result of those discussions, late last week we found out that we'd be able to grant a hardship waiver to all affected members in those affected states." Rell said, "Humana is doing the right thing. This is a victory for thousands of Connecticut's most needy residents" (Long Island Newsday, 3/5).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.