Nearly 100 Nassau County retirees improperly received duplicate Medicare reimbursements for more than two decades, costing taxpayers more than $1.6 million, according to a new county audit.
The review found that 94 retirees collected Medicare Part B reimbursements from Nassau County for spouses who were also retired public employees — even though those spouses were receiving payments for the same expense from their own former public employers, according to the audit released June 15 by Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips.
Phillips said stopping improper “double dipping” in health benefits is not always straightforward, noting that it requires coordination among multiple plans, carriers and eligibility systems. Her office said it plans to tighten verification procedures and improve oversight of the reimbursement process.
Under state law and union agreements, Nassau County must reimburse eligible retirees and their spouses for Medicare Part B premiums, which help cover doctor visits and outpatient care.
The county issues those reimbursement checks twice a year, but the rule is clear: retirees are allowed to collect the payment from only one source.
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According to the audit, the problem went undetected because no one had been verifying whether retirees were following that rule. Phillips’ office opened its review in October after staff uncovered duplicate payments stretching back as far as 2002.
Auditors then reviewed health benefits records for all 10,240 living Nassau County retirees and identified 99 cases that warranted further scrutiny.
Of those 99 cases, five spouses were cleared after showing they were not receiving reimbursements elsewhere. The remaining 94 were confirmed to have collected duplicate payments, the audit said.
Since then, 39 retirees have fessed up after the comptroller’s office sent letters demanding repayment for the allegedly stolen taxpayer funds, while another 55 haven’t responded, according to the audit — but no one has been referred to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly for any criminal charges.
As of June 1, less than $260,000 has been returned, leaving $1.36 million in taxpayer funds still outstanding, according to the audit.
