AARP Association with United Healthcare

Hi @VickiB468433. UnitedHealthcare has been the provider for AARP-branded Medicare plans for more than 25 years. UnitedHealthcare provides Medicare-related coverage to more Americans than any other insurance company in the country and like all insurance providers they are required to comply with state and federal insurance rules, regulations, and guidelines. I understand the frustration with receiving unwanted mail. Send us a private message with your name and address, and we'd be happy to help you with stopping the mail. Visit https://aarp.info/47hWcl7 for instructions on how to enable private messages. Thanks for reaching out to us!
Brandon C.

Right?  Maybe is the boatload of money they get from UHC for capturing the endorsement of the most significant Senior advocacy group in the country.  What insurance company doesn't want potentially the sickest people and then algorithm to death?

I will change all of my plans to another company as soon as I can. They are overly expensive for little return. My sister changed over to another company during last open season , less expensive and easier to work with . I’m so disappointed that AARP is tied to them. I’m beginning to doubt my association with AARP. I doubt I will renew my AARP membership unless I see some positive results on this matter. 

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@da7435 wrote:

I will not be renewing my AARP membership because I was able to dump my UHC medigap policy.  UHC’s horrible denial of coverage is now widely known. I won’t give any more money to such a disreputable company.

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Maybe you are using the wrong term here but a MEDIGAP plan does NOT approve or disapprove of any health service under any insurer.  A MEDIGAP policy works with traditional Medicare and picks up the part of the service that traditional Medicare does not cover depending upon which MEDIGAP plan you have.

IF traditional Medicare pays their portion, the MEDIGAP plan pays their p[ortion - as simple as that.  

IF traditional Medicare does not approve the service and does NOT pay their portion, the MEDIGAP plan does not pay either.

Please learn the difference in a Medigap plan and a Medicare Advantage plan.

Another name for Medigap insurance is a Medicare Supplemental Policy

Medicare.gov - Medicare Supplemental Insurance (Medigap) 

@CBtoo 

Oak Street didn’t get convicted - they paid to resolve the issue.

Justice.gov - Oak Street Health Agrees to Pay $60M to Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Liability for Paying Kickbacks to Insurance Agents in Medicare Advantage Patient Recruitment Scheme 

A lot of company’s do this to keep down their legal cost.  

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits anyone from offering or paying, directly or indirectly, any remuneration — which includes money or any other thing of value — to induce referrals of patients or to provide recommendations of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other federally funded programs. 

TheAnti-Kickback Statute is the same legislation which prevents people on Medicare to take advantage of the coupons that some manufacturers give to help patient with their cost.  

In some industries, it is acceptable to reward those who refer business to you. However, in the Federal health care programs, paying for referrals is a crime.

It is one of the laws that are considered Fraud and Abuse in Medicare - the same kind of thing that D.O.G.E. looks into and many times they have already been written up by the OIG but nothing was ever done about it.

OIG.hhs.gov - Fraud and Abuse Laws 

Actually, many physicians  that just come into Medicare as providers have to be trained about it because often times even if they give away something to a patient that happens to be on Medicare like a sample medication of perhaps a special deal the provider has gotten for recommending a specific DME provider for wheel chair coverage or something else.  This is even the case if the provider does not have any relationship to the associate medical services.

Medicare is complicated and everything has to be above any facsimile of paying to play.