Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Aside Updates  

Although we haven’t seen as many updates as we did at the beginning of 2025 regarding Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Asides (MSAs), there have been some noteworthy updates over the past two weeks.  

Medicare to Host Intro to Medicare Set Aside Webinar  

On May 29, 2025 (circulated by way of e-mail notice on May 30, 2025), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an alert indicating that… “[the agency] will be hosting an Introduction to WCMSAs webinar. The intent of this webinar is to go over the basics of WCMSAs including purpose, submission guidelines and administration as well as to offer some WCMSA best practices.” This webinar will take place on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Full webinar information and details can be found in the following announcement here.  

CMS last held a webinar on March 27, 2025, titled “Introduction to Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) for Beneficiary Representatives,” in which agency representatives provided an “MSP 101” session covering MSP and Coordination of Benefits fundamentals, basics on Medicare recovery (liens/conditional payments), and utilizing the Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Portal (MSPRP), along with additional resources and a question and answer session.  

The industry commends CMS for its outreach and education efforts. The injured party/beneficiary population is one of the most affected by the MSP, yet this segment is often the least educated and aware. As such, beneficiary representatives should join in for the upcoming webinar. This author will provide a summary of the upcoming webinar.  

Use of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2022 Life Tables  

On June 3, 2025, CMS announced by way of e-mail and on the “What’s New” portion of the Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Aside website that beginning June 14, 2025, the agency will use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “Table 1: Life Table for the total population: United States, 2022” for MSA life expectancy calculations. A link to the 2022 Life Tables is here.  

The CDC’s Life Tables are statistics produced by the CDC that indicate life expectancy and other mortality-related data for the U.S. population. The tables are used for public health purposes, in actuarial science and underwriting and provide a standard life expectancy for the general population.  

In the context of an MSA, oftentimes a “rated age” (also known as a “medical age”) will be incorporated. A rated age represents a medically adjusted life expectancy. If an individual has certain health issues they may be assigned a rated age that is older than their actual (or standard) age, thus implying a shorter life expectancy. See Sec. 10.3 of the WCMSA Reference Guide for more information.  

Regardless of the rated or actual age, CMS directs the Workers’ Compensation Review Contractor (WCRC) – the contractor that reviews voluntary submissions of MSAs – to use the CDC Life Tables to determine life expectancy based upon the designated age of the individual.  

This author is sometimes asked why there isn’t a more recent version of the Life Tables (i.e., why it only goes up to 2022). The reason for this is due to the significant effort that goes into capturing the data. There is a lag-time due to the extensive work that goes along with the collection, verification and analysis of the applicable data on the mortality of individuals that goes into compiling these tables. 

For information on any of these updates, please contact Shawn Deane at J29 at shawn.deane@j29inc.com or at (866) 529-6771.   

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Author Bio   

Shawn Deane   

General Counsel & Vice President of Claims Solutions | J29   

Shawn.Deane@j29inc.com        

(866) 529-6771   

www.j29inc.com       

As General Counsel & Vice President of Claims Solutions, Shawn Deane leads J29’s legal and Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) services team. Shawn is a practicing attorney and has over 17 years of experience in Medicare compliance, workers’ compensation, and insurance claims. He was previously General Counsel & Senior Vice President of Risk Management & Compliance at the nation’s largest professional administrator of Medicare Set Asides. Prior to that he was Vice President of Medicare Compliance & Policy at one of the country’s largest Medicare Set Aside vendors. He’s an industry expert and thought leader in workers’ compensation, Medicare Set Asides (MSAs) and Medicare compliance.    

About J29   

J29 is a women-owned business that offers Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) compliance services providing Medicare Set Asides (MSAs), conditional payment / lien services and related solutions to all workers’ compensation stakeholders – including carriers, self-insureds, third-party administrators, and attorneys. 

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