Insurer Accused of Age Discrimination
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, New York is accusing Oxford Health Plans of engaging in age discrimination for people in need of acute rehabilitation and traumatic brain injuries against patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage. Oxford Health Plans shows the pattern of discriminations according to data released. “Our data clearly shows a pattern of age discrimination by Oxford that can be characterized as elder abuse,” David P. Rosen, chief executive of the hospital and its parent company, MediSys Health Network. In a statement he quoted that from Jan. 1 2006 to August 2, 2007, of 58 Oxford-insured patients referred by doctors for acute rehabilitation or traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, 46 were denied coverage. That is an 80 percent denial rate. The hospital has yet to file a lawsuit or complaint with regulators and Oxford’s parent company UnitedHealth has not commented on the findings. Under Medicare Advantage, the government pays insurance companies for taking on the risk of covering elderly patients' health needs. This is just another example of the types of hurdles traumatic brain injured patients face daily in the healthcare system.
