Man’s QMB problem resolved

Earlier this year a man contacted the Ombudsman about a problem with his Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) benefit. The man is receiving his Social Security Retirement benefit and has a low income. Because of his low income, Medicaid will pay for his Part B premiums. The man had a letter from the Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) that he was eligible for the QMB benefit as of April 1, 2016. However, his Medicare Part B premium was deducted from his Social Security Retirement benefit through August 2016.

The man had already taken his letter into a Social Security office and a staff person reviewed it and informed him that they had to receive the information from the ODJFS. The staff person also explained to the man that she could see in the computer system that there was an attempt by ODJFS to send information about the earlier date of April 1, 2016, but due to a system error it had not come through.

The Ombudsman sent an inquiry to the ODJFS requesting that the man’s date of eligibility for the QMB program be reviewed and that the correct date be sent to the Social Security Administration (SSA). The effective date of April 1, 2016 was sent to the SSA.

Several weeks later the man called to report he had received reimbursement for his QMB payments back to his eligibility date of April 1, 2016. The man was grateful for the intervention of the Ombudsman, and stated that he wished he had come to the Ombudsman months earlier to get his problem resolved.

The Ombudsman Column, a production of the Joint Office of Citizens’ Complaints, summarizes selected problems that citizens have had with government services, schools and nursing homes in the Dayton area. Contact the Ombudsman by writing to the Beerman Building, 11 W. Monument Avenue, Suite 606, Dayton 45402, or telephone (937) 223-4613, or by electronic mail at ombudsman@dayton-ombudsman.org or like us on Facebook at “Dayton Ombudsman Office.”

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