UnitedHealth Group will reprocess all of its commercial claims related to COVID-19 vaccine administration, after federal investigators confirmed that the nation’s largest insurer paid “millions” of provider bills at 40% less than the Medicare rate for inoculating people during the three-month period that ended July 1.
In a letter to UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty last week, Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), chair of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said, “UnitedHealth’s past policies appeared to have created access barriers … that affected younger and older Americans alike.”
Casey reiterated the committee’s expectations from an Oct. 6 call with UnitedHealthcare, in which company officials said United Health would reprocess the claims and that providers would not be required to resubmit claims for reprocessing. Additionally, he said that UnitedHealth officials told Aging Committee staff that they hoped to make “significant progress” within 30 to 45 days.
UnitedHealth must provide the committee with answers to who and how much it owes by Nov. 5, Casey said.
“I appreciate the company’s decision to reprocess certain COVID-19 vaccine claims, which I expect will facilitate the broadest possible access to COVID-19 vaccines among UnitedHealth’s members,” the senator wrote.
“For every 1 million claims UnitedHealthcare reprocesses, the company will owe providers $15 million. Claims across UnitedHealthcare’s entire book of business will likely need to be repaid, except for potentially those in the state-regulated Medicaid managed-care space,” Modern Healthcare reported.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reminded eligible consumers Friday that they are not required to pay anything for their COVID-19 vaccinations. Full coverage is available under Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and from commercial health insurance policies.
“Beneficiaries with Medicare pay nothing for COVID-19 vaccines or their administration, and there is no applicable copayment, coinsurance or deductible,” according to CMS.
