Class action against Humana

Humana has certainly reaped rewards from the newest government entitlement program. Medicare part D covers drugs for those enrolled in the program. The government basically handed this program over to insurance companies to manage. There are now approximately 42 different programs to choose from and senior citizens are left to make some tough decisions.

Companies like Humana use all sorts of marketing and sales tactics to get these vulnerable people to choose their program. They know that once they are in the Part D program the companies will have a better chance of getting them to choose other plans.

The courier reported on this in the following article. Humana drug plans beset on two fronts. The following excerpt shows one of the issues that Humana is being accused.

In a Jan. 26 letter to Medicare officials, Stark accused Humana of "coercing" seniors interested in the company's drug plans to buy a more expensive managed-care plan instead. Such plans cover doctor and hospital care as well as drugs.

Inspector General Daniel Levinson of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare, told Stark on Feb. 8 that his office would look into the matter.

This comes as no surprise to physicians. We see patients being misled and misguided on a daily basis by these companies. This particular issue was brought to the attention of Congressman Stark because Humana was touting their marketing strategies on Wallstreet.

Physicians have no problems with offering drug coverage, but the government should have established a defined formulary that all companies had to follow. The current system allows each of the 42 programs to offer a different formulary.

Physicians never know which drug is on which plan and most physicians do not even look at what insurance the patient is on when we are evaluating them.

This is a typical bureaucratic mess. They evidently didn’t get adequate input from the people who actually have to use the program.