I agree with you it is strange that they are discounting the deductible. Normally the secondary will allow the difference between the Medicare allowed amount and what Medicare has paid. From what you've said it appears that Healthlink is a secondary not a supplement and they are handling it as though they were the primary carrier, which would be fine if Medicare had denied it but because they applied it to the patient's deductible, it does seem unusual. I would suggest calling Healthlink and making sure they understand the charges were applied to the patient's Medicare Part B deductible and not denied. If you think they've made a mistake but they are insisting everything was processed correctly try this;
Hang up and call up Healthlink back. Ask to verify benefits for your patient. Tell them Medicare is primary and verify they have that on record. Find out if they act as a secondary or a supplement. Then ask if they will cover the Medicare Part B deductible and ask how that is handled. Find out if they consider charges based the Medicare allowable or if they disregard Medicare entirely and process based on their contracted rate in cases of denials and decutibles. If they tell you they will consider charges based on the Medicare allowed amount, pay their percentage and the remainder is the patients responsiblity, you can bring up the fact that they handled it differently with this particular date of service and you should be able to get it reprocessed.
Hope that helps,
Randi