Important Message from Humana & Aetna: Members Who Requested to Have Premiums Withheld by SSA/RRB in 2019

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FROM HUMANA MARKETPOINT: 

  • Humana has taken action for our impacted members and worked quickly to re-trigger deductions with a 6/1/2019 effective date (next available date).
  • Members were sent a letter on 5/9 (verbiage below) that states we have requested a future date (6/1/19) due to a SSA delay and the amount they owe – letter contains a remit slip.
  • Customer Service has been ramped up for potential calls and no collection actions will take place due to them being on SSA/RRB.

Please see the letter verbiage below. Members should call our Customer Care Team at 1-800-457-4708 if they have questions.

Thank you for choosing Humana for your Medicare coverage.

You asked us to deduct your monthly premium from either your Social Security (SSA) or Railroad

Retirement Board (RRB) benefit check. Your request could not be processed in time for the next

premium payment. We requested your premium deduction to begin with the next available premium

payment for 06/01/2019. It can take SSA or RRB up to 90 days to process this request. At that time,

you may see up to three months of premiums deducted from your check.

You are responsible for paying the monthly premium(s) due prior to 06/01/2019. Please make a

payment for the amount due of $.

To PAY YOUR PREMIUM:

Go to Humana.com/pay or use the MyHumana mobile app

Detach and mail the payment slip below with your payment

Call our Customer Care Team at 1-800-457-4708. If you use a TTY, call 711.

FROM AETNA: 

We want to notify you about an issue affecting all Medicare members who elected to pay plan premiums from their Social Security Administration (SSA) or Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) check.

Background

Normally, when members select this premium payment option, the SSA/RRB withholds funds from members’ SSA/RRB checks to cover their plan premiums.

Unfortunately, due to a system issue, this did not occur for two or more months starting February 1, 2019. This issue affected all carriers, not just Aetna. Although the system issue is now fixed, the SSA/RRB cannot retroactively deduct premium payments from members’ checks.

What do members need to do?

Because these members now have past-due accounts, their premium payment method has changed to direct billing, effective February 1, 2019. This means they now need to pay any past-due premium amounts to Aetna directly.

Member communication

Members will receive a letter explaining what happened and what they need to do later this month. Letters are being mailed in waves, between May 10-24, so members will receive them over several weeks. View the member letter.

What happens next?

  • We’ve already submitted a new request to restart SSA premium deduction for the affected members, effective June 1, 2019. If the request is accepted by SSA, they will send members a letter of approval. Please be aware this can take up to 90 days.
  • Please explain to your clients that SSA will only deduct future premiums from their Social Security check as of the effective date noted in their approval letter, so any balances owed up until that effective date must be paid to Aetna directly. Members need to pay premiums directly to us for any months the SSA or RRB doesn’t cover.

While these members are not currently at-risk for termination due to nonpayment, they do need to begin making payments to ensure their plan does not face termination for nonpayment in the future.

 

 

 

Please contact your Cornerstone Senior Marketing representative if you have any questions.