SCOTUS: Plan’s Low ESRD Rates Don’t Violate Medicare Secondary Payer Law

In a major blow to leading dialysis provider DaVita, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a hospital employee health plan’s low reimbursement rates for dialysis do not violate Medicare secondary payer requirements as long as all employees covered by the plan are offered the same benefits. In a 7-2 decision, the high court ruled in favor of Marietta Memorial Hospital Employee Health Benefit Plan, and in the process also shed new light on Medicare’s secondary payer requirements. DaVita had argued...