Review of Pension Costs Claimed for Medicare Part B Reimbursement by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana

This final report provides the results of our review of Pension Costs Claimed for Medicare Part B Reimbursement by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana (Louisiana). For the years 1987 through 1989, we determined that Louisiana under claimed allowable medicare Part B pension costs. During this period, the allowable Medicare Part B pension costs were $125,668. However, Louisiana claimed pension costs of $40,122 for Medicare reimbursement. As a result, Louisiana did not claimed $85,546 of allowable Part B pension cost. The under claim occurred primarily because Louisiana did not base their claim on separately computed pension costs for the Medicare segment, calculated in accordance with the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS). We recommended Louisiana revise its claim for Medicare reimbursement to reflect the remaining allowable pension costs.