December 12, 2013

Attorney General George Jepsen today issued the following statement on correspondence from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding United Healthcare’s termination of providers from its Medicare Advantage Plan network:

“I am deeply disappointed by CMS’s response and its continuing refusal to take concrete action to protect thousands of patients affected by United Healthcare’s terminations of Connecticut physicians.

“I have repeatedly pressed CMS to aggressively scrutinize UHC’s network to determine its adequacy, but have seen no evidence that it has done so. Remarkably, CMS concedes that it failed to consider the special needs of the disabled, elderly, low income, those without personal transportation and non-English speaking patients. In other words, CMS has approved UHC’s network without considering the needs of those who most need protection.  Nor has CMS independently verified that existing patients are being offered suitable alternatives for their terminated doctors – that is, substitute doctors with the appropriate expertise and capacity to accept new patients.  

“Like UHC, CMS refuses to disclose the number of doctors affected, compounding the confusion and lack of transparency surrounding these terminations.  My office will continue to support doctors and their patients, including by supporting the physicians’ lawsuit that has already succeeded in demonstrating a likelihood of irreparable harm to patients in Connecticut.  We will also continue to convey individual doctors’ and patients’ complaints to CMS and urge it to take appropriate action to address them.” 

Please click here to view CMS’s letter to the Attorney General.

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