Social Security Glitch Results in Incorrect Refunds Mailed to People on Medicare
The Social Security Administration's Fiscal Year 2007 Annual Performance Plan and Revised Final Plan for FY 2006 presented by Social Security's Commissioner, Jo Anne B. Barnhart, stated that Social Security will have new challenges and responsibilities as the Agency helps to implement the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (also known as Medicare Part D).

Part of the those responsibilities include withholding Medicare Part D premium payments for those enrollees choosing to have premiums withheld from their monthly Social Security payments.

People on Medicare are faced with challenges of their own as they attempt to navigate their way through on-going changes in the Medicare program, particularly the new Medicare Part D program.

Delores Porter recently received an unexpected refund in the amount of $470.12 from Social Security with a notice stating that her Social Security check would be increased by $67.16 in future months. The reason given was that her Medicare Part D premium was being automatically debited from her personal bank account.

According to Delores, she had previously elected that her Part D premium be withheld from her Social Security benefit check. She had no knowledge of setting up an electronic debit from her bank account.

After exhausting telephone calls to her bank and to Social Security, Delores was told that Social Security had made an error and that Social Security records incorrectly showed her Part D premium as "self-pay." Frustrated, but relieved to find the answer, Delores said, "I was right, Social Security was wrong." According to the Social Security Administration representative with whom Delores spoke, her situation is not an isolated case.

The Social Security Administration will probably only hear from a fraction of the people who have these kind of problems. The source and scope of the problem are unknown. Most would agree that automatic deduction mistakes need to be resolved between the Social Security Administration and the U. S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (the federal agency that administers the Medicare program).

Insurers can try to help members but their power is limited, said Mohit Ghose, spokesman for the America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents health insurers. "We believe there continue to be systems issues that may be affecting beneficiaries' payments that are outside the control of the Part D plans themselves," he said.

Medicare and Social Security officials say they're trying to figure out the problems. "In most cases, this works just fine, but unfortunately there are exceptions," said Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter, who added that about 4 million beneficiaries opted to have their premiums withheld from their checks.

That's not much consolation for Medicare beneficiaries such as 73 year-old Delores who already feels like she is fighting an uphill battle in trying to understand and live with the new Medicare Prescription Drug Program.