U.S. Overpaying for Veterans' Healthcare

The study, by lead author Amal Trivedi, MD, of Brown University and others, recommends that policymakers attempt payment system change to rectify the double payment for these dually-enrolled veterans.

First, the VA could receive authorization to collect reimbursements from the Medicare Advantage plans for covered services, just as the VA collects payment from private health insurers for non-Medicare patients.

That practice is now prohibited by the Social Security Act, but that law was passed before managed care plans were brought into the Medicare program in 1982, Kizer says.

Second, officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services might reduce payments to Medicare Advantage health plans whose veteran enrollees received most or all of their care at the VA.