Why are they changing Medicare's name to Novitas?

[diabeticman]

My wife went with her mother to a doctor's appointment yesterday and the office printed out some information for my MIL to update if needed too. My wife and her mom question the Novitas as being listed as her medical plan.


The nurse explained that Novitas is the new name for medicare.

So why was the name changed? What else is being changed? and WHEN did they changed the name?

[JHB]

1. Novitas is an administrative contractor, not Medicare itself

Novitas is who processes the claim paperwork in some states.

Where is MIL located? It may be her state changed to Novitas, and that's what the nurse meant (either poorly stated, or she misunderstood herself).

[diabeticman]

3. Thank you for that info. One question I have is that Medicare only cost 5 -8% in overhead cost

with this new contractor IS the overhead still going to be 5-8% or will we see that go up to something like a for profit health care plan like Blue Cross/Blue Shield?


On edit: We are from PA

[JHB]

7. All I know is what I got from a quick Google search. It was enough to clarify your initial question.

My guess would be that they've been part of that 5-8% for a while and are just handling additional areas, but I haven't researched it.

[RB TexLa]

8. The low overhead comes with a cost. Medicare is defrauded

at a much higher rate than private insurance. You didn't think doctors just want lower taxes for their campaign contributions do you.

[stlsaxman]

13. this depends on who you consider is "defrauding".

if any entity has a reason for fraud, I would venture a guess that "private insurance" would "defraud" just by padding it's profit margin for their shareholders.

[undeterred]

2. Google brought back this.

Novitas Solutions is transitioning in as the Part A and B MAC for Jurisdiction H (JH), which includes Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. JH also includes processing and administrative services for Indian Health Service (IHS)/Tribal/Urban Indian Providers as well as Veteran Affairs (VA) Medicare claims and remittance advice

https://www.novitas-solutions.com/

Medicare parts A and B? New to me too.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

5. Medicare Part A

Is hospitalization coverage for which no premium is collected. Medicare Part B covers doctor visits etc. There is a monthly premium collected for Bart B.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Note that the term 'MAC' in your post stands for: Medicare Administrative Contractors

nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. Novitas is a contractor, part of that bathtub sized government. n/t

[Lint Head]

6. Medicare contracts are bid for by private insurance corporations just like any other

federal contract. Used to be every 5 years. I think it's the same today. I worked for a Medicare contractor for many years.
Insurance companies don't want medicare to go away any more than the average person does. It is a money pot if administered correctly.
Privatizing it would be devastating. The government decided to use the infrastructure of regular insurance corporations so they would not have to build one from the ground up and create more bureaucrats. Plus, insurance companies fought to make sure they were a part of the money flow.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. It is hard for me to belive posts like this are sincere....

No one is this dense. Yet this tale tells of four people who...oh, never mind.

[Fumesucker]

12. A lot of people hate dealing with paperwork, forms, officialdom

Makes it easy to miss stuff like this, I know I would have had questions after being told something like the nurse told the OP.

There are so many details to life these days, it's really hard to keep up.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

14. take a deep breath, and remember

that yes, a large portion of the US population is that dense. I prefer 'uninformed'. it's a more hopeful word

[ProSense]

10. It's a contractor, and

this is how Medicare has always operated:

http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssa/lbjhistory.html