Coordination of Benefits (COB) applies when expenses for covered services are eligible under more than one insurance program. Usually, one health insurance company has primary responsibility and there is at least one other health insurance company with responsibility for any remaining patient liability. On occasion, an automobile insurance or workers’ compensation insurance carrier will be involved. Regardless of which insurance carriers are responsible, the combined payments are never greater than the actual charges of services and generally are not more than the primary carrier’s contract rate. This portion of the manual offers some guidelines to help in COB situations. Remember to ask your patient if they have other health insurance coverage. Obligations of Physician to Obtain COB Information and to Bill Primary First Claims should be submitted to the primary carrier first. You must help with processing forms required to pursue COB with other health care plans and coverages (including and without limitation, workers’ compensation, duplicate coverage and personal injury liability). You are required to make diligent efforts to identify and collect information concerning other health care plans and coverages at the time of service. Where Horizon BCBSNJ is, or appears to be, secondary to another plan or coverage, you must first seek payment from such other plan or coverage according to the applicable rules for COB. HCAPPA Revised COB Rules The New Jersey state law known as the Health Claims Authorization, Processing and Payment Act (HCAPPA) states that no health insurer can deny a claim while seeking COB information unless good cause exists for the health insurer’s belief that other coverage is available; for example, if the health insurer’s records indicate that other insurance coverage exists. Horizon BCBSNJ will continue to gather information from members regarding other benefits in an effort to maintain accurate records and have the appropriate health insurer be financially responsible. Patient Who has Two or More Insurance Plans (other than Medicare, Motor Vehicle Accidents or Workers’ Compensation) If you are providing care to the covered spouse of a Horizon BCBSNJ subscriber who also has his/her own health plan, the spouse’s health plan is always primary UNLESS all of the following are true:
If you are providing care to a Horizon BCBSNJ subscriber who also has coverage as a subscriber with another health plan and the subscriber is:
When providing care to a dependent child, whose parents are not separated or divorced and:
When providing care to a dependent child, whose parents are separated or divorced:
BIRTHDAY RULE Under the Birthday Rule, to determine the primary carrier, you need the month and day of the parents’ birth dates; the year is never considered. The parent whose birthday falls earlier in the year has the primary plan for the dependent child. If both parents have the exact same birthday (month and day), the plan in effect the longest is primary. The Birthday Rule will only apply if both carriers use the Birthday Rule. GENDER RULE Under the Gender Rule, the father’s plan is primary for the dependent child. If one parent’s contract uses the Birthday Rule and the other contract uses the Gender Rule, then Gender Rule determines the father’s plan as primary. MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS If the primary carrier is:
Automobile insurance is not primary for motorcycle accidents for owner/operators of a motorcycle. WORKERS’ COMPENSATION Workers’ compensation covers any injury which is the result of a work-related accident. Employers purchase insurance which covers work-related illnesses or injuries. Horizon BCBSNJ does not provide reimbursement for services rendered to treat work-related illnesses or injuries or for services or supplies which could have been covered by workers’ compensation. Always bill the workers’ compensation carrier directly for work-related illnesses or injuries. If Horizon Casualty Services, Inc. is the workers’ compensation carrier, mail medical bills to: Horizon Casualty Services, Inc. REGULATIONS ON NEW JERSEY INSURED GROUP POLICY Special rules apply for Coordination of Benefits (COB) where the Horizon BCBSNJ policy is an insured group policy issued by Horizon BCBSNJ 11:4-28.7, as amended effective January 1, 2003, provides for different COB rules (as to insured group policies issued in New Jersey) depending on what basis the primary and secondary plans pay and whether the physician is or is not in the network of either or both plans. If Horizon BCBSNJ is the primary payer, these rules do not apply. If the Horizon BCBSNJ insured group policy is secondary, and the physician or other health care professional is in Horizon BCBSNJ’s network, these rules apply:
MEDICARE ELIGIBILITY There may be instances when an individual who has coverage with us may also be entitled to Medicare coverage. This section will help you to determine which plan will pay as primary. COB when Medicare is involved is usually called Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP). MSP does not apply to members who have individual contracts. Medicare is always primary for individual contract holders. There are three ways a person can become eligible for Medicare:
Attaining Age 65 When individuals reach age 65 and have contributed enough working quarters into the Social Security system, they are entitled to Medicare Part A benefits at no cost. To receive Medicare Part B benefits, they must pay premiums through monthly deductions from their Social Security checks. For individuals who have not contributed enough quarters in the Social Security system, there are two ways they may receive Medicare Part A benefits:
Becoming Disabled Disabled individuals under age 65 are entitled to Medicare under the disability provisions of the Social Security Act. They must be unable to work and must have been receiving Social Security disability payments for 24 months. Beginning with the first day of the 25th month of receiving Social Security payments, they are entitled to Medicare Part A benefits at no cost. Medicare Part B benefits may be purchased. Having End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) A person becomes eligible for Medicare under the ESRD provisions after beginning a regular course of renal dialysis. He/She is entitled to Medicare benefits after completing a three-month waiting period beginning the first day of the month after the start of a regular course of renal dialysis. The waiting period continues until the first day of the fourth month following the initiation of renal dialysis. On the first day of the fourth month, such a person is entitled to Medicare Part A at no cost. Medicare Part B benefits may be purchased. The three-month eligibility waiting period for ESRD Medicare benefits may not apply when the Medicare-eligible individual:
MEDICARE SECONDARY PAYER There are three ways a Medicare-eligible person may be primary with us under an employer group health program:
See chart on the next page for more detailed information. Working-Aged When a person becomes entitled to Medicare at age 65, there is the possibility that he or she has health insurance through an employer group health account. It is important to know whether the policyholder (subscriber) is retired or actively working. To determine who is primary, three questions need to be asked of the Medicare beneficiary who has a group health policy through Horizon BCBSNJ:
If the answers to all three questions are YES, then the Horizon BCBSNJ group health policy would be primary to Medicare for the Medicare-eligible person. Special Enrollment Period for Medicare Part B Benefits A Medicare-eligible person may choose not to purchase Medicare Part B since it may not be necessary if the group is primary. When Medicare becomes primary, the subscriber may sign up for Medicare Part B benefits, with no increase in premiums. Coverage begins the first day of the month following the month the primary coverage ends. The person must sign up immediately upon becoming eligible once Medicare is primary, since the Medicare Part B benefits will only begin the first of the month that he/she signs up. This is called the Special Enrollment Period (SEP). If an individual is entitled to Medicare because of age and is covered under the MSP provisions, he/she has the right to select Medicare as primary. If the person selects Medicare as primary, he/she must be dropped from his/her employer’s group health benefits with the exception of prescription drug and dental coverage. The employer may not subsidize a supplemental Medicare plan under these circumstances. If Medicare is primary and the subscriber chooses not to purchase Medicare Part B benefits, we will never pay more than we would have if that individual had Medicare Part B benefits. In addition, this person would not be eligible for the SEP and would face increased premiums and be restricted when he/she signs up for Medicare Part B benefits. AGE 65 or older and:
Under age 65 years, on Medicare due to disability and:
Eligible for Medicare due to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) after March 1, 1996 regardless of age:
If you need help understanding if Medicare or a group health plan is primary, call the CMS Benefits Coordination & Recovery Center (BCRC) at 1-855-798-2627. * This does not apply if the member was Medicare-eligible due to age or disability prior to ESRD eligibility and the group health plan was primary due to other Medicare Secondary Payer rules. In this case, the group health plan would remain primary for the first 30 months of ESRD eligibility. MEDICARE EXCEPTIONS Medigap MSP regulations only apply when the insurance coverage is through an employer. A Medicare supplemental policy, or Medigap policy, may be offered by an employer (if there are less than 20 employees or if the employee is not actively working) or it may be purchased on an individual basis; however, a Medicare supplemental policy will never be primary over Medicare. Medicare Part A If there are no Medicare Part A benefits, MSP regulations do not apply. Medicare Part A services are billed to the group health plan. Individuals who have purchased Medicare Part A benefits are identified with an M at the end of the Medicare claim number on their Medicare ID card. Disabled Individuals entitled to Medicare due to disability must be under the age of 65, otherwise the working-aged provisions apply. You should ask the following questions to determine primacy:
The two important differences between the MSP working-aged and the disability provisions are:
Unlike the working-aged provisions, under the MSP disability provision, the Medicare-eligible individual may be covered by a family member other than his/her spouse. This typically occurs when a parent or legal guardian covers a disabled dependent – either child or adult. Under the disability provisions, the employer must employ 100 or more employees. It is important to verify the number of employees because the patient may be part of a subgroup within a group, such as the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) and School Employees’ Health Benefits Program (SEHBP). There may be local municipalities with fewer than 100 employees, but the larger group has greater than 100 employees. The number of employees in the entire employer group is considered when making the determination of eligibility for Medicare due to disability. Examples:
End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) A person becomes Medicare-eligible due to ESRD when he or she begins a regular course of renal dialysis. There is a three-month waiting period to receive Medicare Part A and Part B benefits (unless an exception applies). When a person is entitled to Medicare due to ESRD, the MSP regulations will apply when:
If the individual became entitled to Medicare due to ESRD, they have a 30-month COB period, beginning with the first date of entitlement.
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