The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has set a Medicare supplement model developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a national standard.
A Medigap model approved recently by the NAIC, Kansas City, Mo., is now the "applicable NAIC Model Regulation" for purposes of applying the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, officials at CMS, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in a notice published in the Federal Register.
In the notice, CMS officials also discuss how the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 affects the Medicare supplement program.
The NAIC's Medicare Supplement Insurance Minimum Standards Model Act, approved by the NAIC in March 2007, updates Medicare supplement standards that the NAIC originally set in 1979 and has revised over the years to reflect market and legislative changes, CMS officials write in the Federal Register notice.
The latest model eliminates some Medicare supplement plans, and it also requires carriers that want to offer the no-frills Medicare Supplement Plan A option to also offer a Plan C or Plan F option.
