Medicare rebate check snafu: Vermont wants that money

The federal government couldn't manage the Cash for Clunkers program, so why wouldn't the attempt to buy senior votes (Okay, I'm exagerrating) with $250 rebate checks be any different?

Politico tells us:

No sooner than the administration dropped the first batch of $250 Medicare rebate checks in the mail, they have already run into their first snafu: a state government demanding that some seniors turn over the money.

Vermont has asked 2,800 low-income seniors, for whom they had already covered prescription drug costs, to return the new rebate checks to state government.

Vermont officials say that these seniors are "not entitled" to the rebate checks. But an administration official pushes back, noting that many of these seniors are indeed "eligible" for the check. It’s the state’s decision, notes the official, and not the federal government’s to recoup rebate funds.

"All Americans on Medicare who hit the donut hole and do not receive additional federal support are eligible for rebates," says the administration official.

The "donut hole" is a gap in prescription drug coverage some seniors are forced into. Politico says Vermont already covers the donut hole--which is why the state feels those checks should be turned over to them.

We have amateurs running things in Washington.

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