NEWS - Medicare drug benefit hits $50 million glitch with mistaken refunds

[Guest guest]

USATODAY.com

Medicare drug benefit hits $50 million glitch with mistaken refunds

Updated 8/23/2006 11:31 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - Don't cash that check.

The federal government has erroneously reimbursed about 230,000

Medicare recipients for monthly premiums they paid this year for

prescription drug coverage. For many, the checks - totaling nearly $50

million - have already arrived.

The refund will undoubtedly cause confusion, particularly because it

comes with a letter that mistakenly instructs seniors that their monthly

premiums will no longer be deducted from their Social Security check.

Mark McClellan, who oversees the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Services, said people who get the check need to know two things. One, the

money has to be returned. Two, their prescription drug coverage will

continue.

" It's very important for people to know their coverage is continuing, "

he said. " There's no disruption at all. "

Medicare officials say they caught the glitch just after the checks

were sent out last week. As a result, they sent a second letter Tuesday

letting people know about the problem. The average overpayment comes to

about $215.

About 5 million people pay their monthly premiums for Medicare drug

coverage by having the government withhold the money from their Social

Security check.

McClellan said his agency will make sure that insurers who administer

the new drug benefit continue to get paid for the beneficiaries caught up in

the error. He said that his agency was responsible for the error and that

the subsequent letter contains an apology.

The error occurred as McClellan's agency updated the Social Security

Administration about various changes in coverage that beneficiaries had

requested. For instance, beneficiaries contact CMS because they want to

switch plans or change how they pay their monthly premiums. CMS contacts

Social Security officials because the changes often require an adjustment in

the amount deducted from a beneficiary's checks. In this instance, the wrong

information was transmitted, McClellan said.

McClellan also said that beneficiaries need to know the government

won't be able to start making monthly premium deductions again until

October.

He said the agency will work with beneficiaries who face a money

crunch in the fall because they had already cashed the check from the Social

Security Administration or because they can't afford to have premiums from a

few months deducted from one Social Security check.

" The amounts involved here are generally not large, but we want to

make sure that as we account for these extra payments, we do it in a way

that's not burdensome, " McClellan said. " There are a number of approaches we

can take, including doing (repayment) over time if necessary when it's not a

trivial amount of money for the beneficiary. "

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-23-medicare-drug-benefit_x.htm

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org