Nearly 100 Nassau County retirees were caught double-dipping on Medicare checks for over 20 years — costing taxpayers over $1.6 million, a new audit found.
Some 94 county retirees were confirmed to have collected Medicare Part B reimbursements from Nassau County for spouses who are also retired public workers — while those same spouses still collected a payment for the same bill from their own former public employers, according to the audit released June 15 audit by county Comptroller Elaine Phillips.
“Preventing the improper ‘double dipping’ of health benefits can be complex, particularly given the coordination required across multiple plans, carriers, and eligibility systems,” the comptroller said, vowing to strengthen its verification process and oversight surrounding the process.
Nassau is required by state law and union contracts to reimburse eligible retirees and their spouses for Medicare Part B premiums, which is the monthly cost of coverage for doctor visits and outpatient care.
The county cuts those checks twice a year, with one simple rule — retirees can only collect those reimbursements from one source.
But nobody was checking if retirees were actually following the rules, until Phillips’ office launched a probe in October after staff stumbled upon the duplicate payments dating as far back as 2002, according to the audit.
Her office then combed through health benefits records for all 10,240 living Nassau retirees — flagging 99 as suspicious, the audit read.
Out of that 99, five spouses cleared themselves by proving they weren’t collecting elsewhere, while 94 were confirmed double-dippers, 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.