No. There is a federal law that requires Medicare is a secondary payer. You can find more information on the CMS website under "Medicare Secondary Payer and You."
Yes, if the claim does not meet the secondary payor's eligibility rules; such as the patient being uninsured on the date of service.
Generally, Medicare is primary.
Medicare
Effectively, yes. Even if you have other health insurance, Medicare requires that they become the first payer, and your other insurance becomes secondary. It is possible, but cost-prohibitive, to decline Medicare coverage.
Medicare
Medicare
Try searching the Social Security webiste here http://www.ssa.gov/dibplan/index.htm Medicare would be considered a secondary payer and would have to have an EOB from the primary company before they could pay
claim status
It is the Government through the Medicare program.
We have Medicare and added on Anthem. Does that mean Medicare is primary (Paying 80 percent) , and Anthem is secondary?
Medicare does offer coverage for skilled nursing facilties. In order to find out if Medicare will pay as your secondary, the provider needs to submit it to Medicare. This statement is from the Meidcare.gov website: Medicare providers must submit claims (bills) to Medicare for you, whether Medicare is your primary or secondary insurer. For Medicare to process a claim as a secondary payer, the provider must give your primary insurance information to Medicare. You may also consider calling 1-800-Medicare for information about secondary coverage. If you do, remember from Nov 15th to Dec 31st is a busy time for Medicare so it may be difficult to reach them. One more hint to save some frustration: If BlueCross BlueShield has already paid the amount they were supposed to pay, calling them won't really help you because their job is done. Now the remaining bill is between the provider and Medicare.