Medicare program; Medicare secondary payer for individuals entitled to Medicare and also covered under group health plans--HCFA. Final rule with comment period.

These regulations establish limits on Medicare payment for services furnished to individuals who are entitled to Medicare on the basis of disability and who are covered under large group health plans (LGHPs) by virtue of their own or a family member's current employment status with an employer; and prohibit LGHPs from taking into account that those individuals are entitled to Medicare on the basis of disability. They also implement certain other provisions of section 1862(b) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Acts of 1986, 1989, 1990, and 1993 and the Social Security Act Amendments of 1994. Those amendments affect the Medicare secondary payer rules for individuals who are entitled to Medicare on the basis of age or who are eligible or entitled on the basis of end stage renal disease and who are also covered under group health plans (GHPs). The provisions that apply to all three groups include-- The rules under which HCFA determines that a GHP or LGHP is not in conformance with the requirements and prohibitions of the statute; The appeals procedures respecting GHPs and LGHPs that HCFA finds to be nonconforming. The referral of nonconforming plans to the Internal Revenue Service; and The rules for recovery of conditional or mistaken Medicare payments made by HCFA. The intent of the MSP provisions is to ensure that Medicare does not pay primary benefits for services for which a GHP or LGHP is the proper primary payer and that beneficiaries covered under these plans are not disadvantaged vis-a-vis other individuals who are covered under the plan but are not entitled to Medicare.