Audit of Cooperativa de Seguros de Vida de Puerto Rico's Unfunded Pension Costs for 1986 to 2007, A-07-09-00318

Hhs Office Of Inspector General (Oig)

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Office of Inspector General .:,~ "-t,
Office ofAudit Services { ~ DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
\~E Region VII ~"" th *"''''10 601 East 12 Street
Room 0429
Kansas City, Missouri 64106 JUL 1 1 2009
Report Number: A-07-09-00318
Mr. Carlos Gonzalez, CPA
Executive Vice-President ofInfrastructure and Chief Financial Officer
Cooperativa de Seguros de Vida de Puerto Rico
400 Americo Miranda Avenue
Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico 00927
Dear Mr. Gonzalez:
Enclosed is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office ofInspector
General (OIG), final report entitled "Audit of Cooperativa de Seguros de Vida de Puerto Rico's
Unfunded Pension Costs for 1986 to 2007." We will forward a copy of this report to the HHS
action official noted on the following page for review and any action deemed necessary.
The HHS action official will make final determination as to actions taken on all matters reported.
We request that you respond to this official within 30 days from the date of this letter. Your
response should present any comments or additional information that you believe may have a
bearing on the final determination.
Pursuant to the Freedom ofInformation Act, 5 U.S.c. § 552, OIG reports generally are made
available to the public to the extent that information in the report is not subject to exemptions in
the Act. Accordingly, this report will be posted on the Internet at http://oig.hhs.gov.
If you have any questions or comments about this report, please do not hesitate to call me at
[phone], or contact Jenenne Tambke, Audit Manager, at [phone], extension 21, or
through email at [e-mail]. Please refer to report number A-07-09-00318
in all correspondence.
Sincerely,
Patrick 1. Cogley
Regional Inspector General
for Audit Services
Enclosure Page 2 – Mr. Carlos González, CPA
Direct Reply to HHS Action Official:

Ms. Deborah Taylor, Acting Director
Office of Financial Management (OFM)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Mail Stop C3-01-24
7500 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850

































Department of Health and Human Services


OFFICE OF

INSPECTOR GENERAL

AUDIT OF COOPERATIVA DE

SEGUROS DE VIDA DE PUERTO

RICO’S UNFUNDED PENSION

COSTS FOR 1986 TO 2007









Daniel R. Levinson

Inspector General

July 2009

A-07-09-00318



Office of Inspector General eneral
http://oig.hhs.gov s



The The mission omission off th the Office of e Office of InspInspector General (OIG), as mandndated bated byy Public Law Public Law 95-452, a95-452, ass The mission of the Office of Inspndated by Public Law 95-452, as
amended, is to protect the integrity of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) )
programs, as well as the health and welfare of beneficiaries served by those programs. This d . is
statutory mission is carried out through a nationwide network of audits, investigations, and
inspections conducted by the following operating components:

Office of Audit Services Office of Audit Services

The Office of Audit Services (OAS) provides auditing services for HHS, either by conducting
audits with its own audit resources or by overseeing audit work done by others. Audits examine
the performance of HHS programs and/or its grantees and contractors in carrying out their
respective responsibilities and are intended to provide independent assessments of HHS
programprograms s and operations. These asThese assessesssmments help reents help reduce waste, abuse, and misismmanageanagemment and ent and programs These assessments help reismanagement and
promote economy and efficiency throughout HHS.

Office of Evaluation and Inspections ections

The Office of Evaluation and Inspections (OEI) conducts national evaluations to provide HHS,
Congress, and the public with timely, useful, and reliable information on significant issues. ,
These evaluatThese evaluations focus on preventing fraud,aud, waste, or abuse and promomoting economoting economyy, ,
efficiency, and effectiveness of departmental programs. To promote impact, OEI reports also
present practical recommendations for improving program operations.

Office of Investigations Office of Investigations

The Office of Investigationss (OI) conducts criminalinal, civil, and administrative investigations of
fraud and misconduct related to HHS programs, operations, and beneficiaries. With
investigators working in all 50 States and the District of Columbia, OI utilizes its resources by ia, OI utilizes its resources by
actively coordinating with the Department of Justice and other Federal, State, and local law dinating with
enforcement authorities. The investigative efforts of OI often lead to criminal convictions,
administrative sanctions, and/or civil monetary penalties. monetary

Office of Counsel to the Inspector General Office of Counsel to the Inspector General

The Office of Counsel to the Inspector General (OCIG) provides general legal services to OIG,
rendering advice and opinions on HHS programs and operations and providing all legal support i
for OIG’s internal operations. OCIG represents OIG in all civil and administrative fraud and
abuse cases involving HHng HHS programs, including Fal False Claims Act, program exclusion, andexclusion, and civ civil il ng HH False Claims Act, program exclusion, and civil
monetary penalty cases. In connection with these cases, OCIG also negotiates and monitors
corporate integrity agreements. OCIG renders advisory opinions, issues compliance program liance program
guidance, publishes fraud alerts, and provides other guidance to the health care industry y
concerning the anti-kickback statute and other OIG enforcement authorities.





NoticesNotices




THIS REPORT IS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLICLABLE TO THE PUBLIC
at http://oig.hhs.govhttp://oig.hhs.gov

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. '' 5 552, Office of 52, Office of
Inspector General reports generally are made available to the public to
the extent that information in the report is not subject to exemptions in
the Act.

OFFICE OF AUDIOFFICE OF AUDIT SERVIT SERVICCES FINDINGS AND OPINIONSES FINDINGS AND OPINIONS

The designation of financial or management practices as questionable, a
recommendation for the disallowance of costs incurred or claimed, and
any other conclusions and recommendations in this report represent the
findings and opinions of OAS. Authorized officials of the HHS operating
divisdivisiions will make final determination on these matters.ons will make final determination on these matters.














AUDITEE COMMENTS

In written comments on our draft report, COSVI concurred with our recommendations.

COSVI’s comments are included in their entirety as the Appendix.
ii
INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

Cooperativa de Seguros de Vida de Puerto Rico and Medicare

Cooperativa de Seguros de Vida de Puerto Rico (COSVI) has administered Medicare Part A
operations under cost reimbursement contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
1Services (CMS) since 1970. In claiming costs, contractors must follow cost reimbursement
principles contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Cost Accounting Standards
(CAS), and Medicare contracts.

Since its inception, Medicare has paid a portion of the annual contributions made by contractors
to their pension plans. The payments are allowable pension costs under the FAR and its
predecessor, the Federal Procurement Regulations (FPR). In 1980, the Medicare contracts and
the FPR incorporated CAS 412 and 413.

Cost Accounting Standards

The CAS works to ensure stability between contract periods and requires that pension costs be
consistently measured and assigned to contract periods and allocated to cost objectives, including
Federal contracts. On March 30, 1995, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Cost
Accounting Standards Board, revised the CAS relating to accounting for pension costs applicable
with the start of the first accounting period thereafter.

The revised CAS removed the regulatory conflict between the funding limits of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the period assignment provisions of CAS.
The transition provisions of the new rule (48 CFR § 9904.412-64) allow the reassignment of
prior period pension costs, with interest, which were not funded because they lacked tax
deductibility.

The CAS revision does not remove the requiremen