Ramon has received a bill for his recent visit to the doctor's office. He is confused because he has Medicare and American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) insurance and doesn't believe he should owe any money. He called AARP and was told that a bill for the visit had never been received.

He had been told that all claims would come directly from Medicare.

Ramon then called Medicare and asked why the claim had not been sent to AARP. The Medicare office stated that the physician's office had not listed AARP as a secondary insurance carrier on the claim.

That's when Ramon realized that he had given the doctor's office his AARP card at his last visit.

Questions:

How could the physician's office prevented this problem?

What is it called when Medicare forwards a claim to a secondary payer?

If this claim had fallen under the Medicare deductible, would the secondary insurance pick up the change? Why? Why not?