Insurance giant Aetna has received a $1 million fine from the federal government for allegedly conveying wrong information via its website and customer service agents, inaccurately telling customers that more than 7,000 pharmacies were in-network for a number of prescription drug and Medicare Advantage plans.Besides imposing the fine on Aetna, the government has granted Aetna beneficiaries a special enrollment period to dis-enroll from Aetna plans and re-enroll in another Part D plan.
"Unfortunately, a select number of pharmacies were listed incorrectly in CMS Plan Finder as participating in some of Aetna's Part D pharmacy networks," an Aetna spokeswoman said in a statement. "These issues were swiftly resolved, and the majority of pharmacies and our members were not affected by this situation."
The CMS said the bad information meant enrollees had to pay cash at the point of sale for their prescription or to leave the pharmacy without their medications.
"This issue of noncompliance directly adversely impacted thousands of beneficiaries and had the substantial likelihood of impacting all Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Aetna plans with incorrect pharmacy listings," the agency said in the notice.
In all, 3,767 complaints against Aetna were logged between Jan. 1 and April 2. Of those complaints, 73% were related to in-network pharmacy coverage.
The company has until June 2 to appeal the fine, according to the CMS.