Insurance and related industries are seeking to win support inthe waning days of the current Congress for two pieces oflegislation dealing with payment of injured worker claims to peoplewhose primary insurance is Medicare.

Officials of both the American Insurance Association and theProperty Casualty Insurers Association of America are urging actionon the bills this year.

One bill, which has been on the congressional radar screen forseveral years, has already passed a House committee and is seen bysupporters as having a good chance of making it through the Houseand Senate.

The bill is H.R. 1063, the SMART Act, or The StrengtheningMedicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act. It deals with issues relatedto Sec. 111 of the Medicare Secondary Payment Act.

Specifically, it deals with mandates for providing timelyinformation on conditional payments, penalties and statutes oflimitations when claims are reported to the Centers for Medicareand Medicaid Services by insurers and self-insured and third-partypayers on no-fault auto-insurance claims, workers' compensationclaims, and claims under liability insurance.

Industry officials are hoping that, in the waning days ofCongress, work on H.R. 1063 in Ways and Means can be done in tandemwith the second bill, H.R. 5284, the Medicare Secondary Payer andWorkers' Compensation Settlement Agreements Act of 2012.

That bill was introduced earlier this year in the House by Rep.Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif.

Nathaniel Wienecke, PCI senior vice president, Wednesday askedofficials of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways andMeans Committee if it could act on the bill this year.

H.R. 5284 deals only with workers' compensation claims, andseeks to establish clear and consistent rules for workers'compensation set-asides for claimants covered by Medicare.

Currently, workers' compensation claims that overlap withMedicare coverage are subject to lengthy, cumbersome review by theCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services to establish the proper“set-side” coverage amounts for future medical expenses, accordingto PCI officials.

“This commonsense legislation will bring more clarity andconsistency to the Medicare set-aside administrative process,” saysTom Litjen, VP Federal Government Affairs for PCI.

“This bill will benefit injured workers, employers, andinsurers, by eliminating costly delays in the federal government'sreview process for workers compensation claims of Medicarebeneficiaries,” he adds.

Melissa Shelk, AIA vice president of federal affairs, says, “AIAhas been a leader on this issue and continues to advocate forpassage of HR 5284.”

In addition, Shelk says, “We also support 1063, whichwill facilitate property-casualty insurers' compliance withMedicare Secondary Payment Act reporting.”

A lobbyist employed by employers and third-party payers who haveurging overhaul of current policies, says the bill has a“realistic” chance of passage this year even though no action on itis evident either in the House or Senate.

The lobbyist, who asked not to be named, says the bill waswritten with the support of both Democrats and Republicans andsatisfies all interested parties, action could still happen whilework continues on the “fiscal cliff” package is completed.

“We are all waiting to get the cliff discussions out of the way,but during this lull there is a chance for real work to happen,” hesays.