42 CFR § 411.32 - Basis for Medicare secondary payments.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t42/s411.32"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "42 CFR § 411.32 - Basis for Medicare secondary payments."
title_number: 42
title_name: "Public Health"
section_number: "411.32"
section_name: "Basis for Medicare secondary payments."
chapter_name: "CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "MEDICARE PROGRAM"
part_number: "411"
part_name: "EXCLUSIONS FROM MEDICARE AND LIMITATIONS ON MEDICARE PAYMENT"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "42 U.S.C. 1302, 1395w-101 through 1395w-152, 1395hh, and 1395nn."
regulatory_source: "54 FR 41734, Oct. 11, 1989, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "411"
---


# 411.32 Basis for Medicare secondary payments.

(a) *Basic rules.* (1) Medicare benefits are secondary to benefits payable by a primary payer even if State law or the primary payer states that its benefits are secondary to Medicare benefits or otherwise limits its payments to Medicare beneficiaries.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, Medicare makes secondary payments, within the limits specified in paragraph (c) of this section and in § 411.33, to supplement the primary payment if that payment is less than the charges for the services and, in the case of services paid on other than a reasonable charge basis, less than the gross amount payable by Medicare under § 411.33(e).

(b) *Exception.* Medicare does not make a secondary payment if the provider or supplier is either obligated to accept, or voluntarily accepts, as full payment, a primary payment that is less than its charges.

(c) *General limitation: Failure to file a proper claim.* When a provider or supplier, or a beneficiary who is not physically or mentally incapacitated, receives a reduced primary payment because of failure to file a proper claim, the Medicare secondary payment may not exceed the amount that would have been payable under § 411.33 if the primary payer had paid on the basis of a proper claim.

The provider, supplier, or beneficiary must inform CMS that a reduced payment was made, and the amount that would have been paid if a proper claim had been filed.