Finders keepers?

Finders keepers?Last month 230,000 Medicare beneficiaries were accidentally reimbursed for the Part D premiums. The average amount was $215. As I wrote last month:

Unfortunately for the recipients, they'll have to give the money back.

But not so fast. According to the Kaiser Family Fund, The Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) is suing the government.

According to CMA... federal law allows for waiver of recovery of funds when a beneficiary is not at fault in an overpayment. In response to the suit, CMS on Monday agreed to stop mailing letters that instruct beneficiaries to return the money and to remove content on the recovery of overpayments from its Web site.

Medicare recipients are getting an overly-generous subsidy on Part D from the rest of us as it is. Anyone who got the mistaken refund should pay it back instead of taking further advantage of the system. The government should apologize, but that's it. Meanwhile, shame on the CMA for pursuing this.