WASHINGTON – A Government Accountability Office report released today finds that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services directive to halt all Medicare Advantage mailings in September 2009, before determining whether that activity violated any laws or regulations, “was unusual.”
In August and September 2009, Humana sent letters to 930,000 beneficiaries enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans warning about potential cuts coming if the Democrats overhauled health care. CMS directed Humana to stop these mailings on Sept. 18, 2009, and all other Medicare Advantage groups on Sept. 21, 2009.
U.S. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Michael Burgess, R-Texas, requested that GAO review CMS’ actions in this case to determine if it had simply silenced Humana in an effort to maintain support for the health care law.
“This report is more evidence that in their efforts to pass health care legislation by any means necessary, the majority was willing to pressure CMS into taking the unprecedented step of halting all communications between Medicare Advantage providers and their beneficiaries,” Barton said. “CMS eventually found violations by only 3 percent of Medicare Advantage providers, while the disastrous law that the majority forced on the American public guarantees that the number of seniors currently enjoying Medicare Advantage plans will be reduced by 50 percent.”
“CMS’s decision to force all Medicare Advantage providers to halt all communications last year was inappropriate in my opinion, and this report reveals that it was also unwarranted. In the last 20 months this Administration has taken several unprecedented steps to silence or intimidate opponents of their government takeover of health care, and this trend is very troubling,” Burgess said. “The American people, including seniors with Medicare Advantage, deserve to know how this new law will affect them, and I will continue to work to shed light on all the ways the Democrats health care law will place more burdens on American seniors, families and businesses.”
The GAO investigation found that CMS was first notified of the Humana mailings on a call with Senate staffers. Shortly after, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee was promoting his request for an investigation in a press release. GAO reports that CMS’ investigation analyzed the mailings to guarantee beneficiary information was being used properly, and that the mailings did not mislead beneficiaries nor qualify as lobbying. After the investigation was complete, CMS issued clarifying guidance. The report notes that while CMS contends that the danger of misinformation in this case was so great as to justify asking all plan providers to cease communications, officials from both Medicare Advantage organizations and CMS were unaware of a prior instance in which CMS has silenced all providers before analyzing whether the activity violated any laws or regulations.”
A copy of GAO report can be found here.
