Summary: Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO determined the: (1) annual cost savings to Medicare from its becoming a secondary payer for certain disabled beneficiaries; and (2) effects of the secondary payment provision on employment and employment-based health coverage of disabled beneficiaries and their family members.
GAO found that: (1) Medicare saved about $322 million because of the provision; (2) Medicare could have saved an additional $148 million had the program not made erroneous payments as a primary payer for some health care services provided to ineligible beneficiaries; (3) Medicare saved about $83 million from the provision's effect on 55,000 disabled beneficiaries who had their own health coverage under employer-sponsored group health plans; (4) the provision had little adverse effect on disabled beneficiaries or their family members in terms of employment or the cost and availability of employer-sponsored health insurance; and (5) the secondary provision had little effect on the disabled, but some employers were contemplating changes that could adversely affect disabled employees.
