Ramon has received a bill for his recent visit to the doctor's office. He is confused because he has Medicare and American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) insurance and does not believe he should owe anything. He called AARP and was told that a bill for the visit had never been received. He had been told that all claims would come directly from Medicare. He then called Medicare and asked why the claim had not been sent to AARP. Medicare stated that the physician's office had not listed AARP as a secondary insurance carrier on the claim. Ramon realized that he had not given the office his AARP card at his visit.
Afterwards, answer the questions below:
- How could his physician's office have prevented this problem?
- What is it called when Medicare forwards a claim to the secondary insurance?
- If this claim had fallen under the Medicare deductible, would the secondary insurance pick up the change?