Audit: More than 90 Nassau retirees 'double-dipped' on Medicare Part B to cover dependents, costing county $1.5M

More than 90 retired Nassau County government workers have been suspected or found to be improperly "double dipping" on Medicare reimbursements, costing about $1.5 million in taxpayer money over a 20-year period, according to an audit from the county comptroller's office released on Tuesday. 

The audit — the second one issued in 2026 and taking some eight months to complete — looked at the Medicare Part B payments sent to 10,240 retirees and 3,690 retiree dependents to determine those suspected of taking the reimbursement from both the county and another former employer. 

The county is only contractually obligated to reimburse retirees for Part B, the insurance component of Medicare that covers doctor's visits and outpatient care, if the retiree or retiree dependent, such as a spouse, is not already collecting that same reimbursement from another employer. A retiree is Medicare-eligible at 65 years of age or upon a disability defined by the federal Social Security Administration.

Of the initial 99 identified to have been taking the double payments, which are sent by the county bi-annually, five of the spouses were able to prove they were not receiving reimbursements from a former employer.

Another 39 retirees responded to a comptroller's office letter confirming their dependents received the duplicate reimbursements. A second letter was sent to the remaining 55 retirees requiring them to repay the county. If they do not have the means to repay the debt, the comptroller's office is arranging a payment plan, according to the report. 

No one has been referred to the county District Attorney's Office for stronger enforcement, officials said.  

To date, $258,172.30 in the duplicate payments have been returned, according to the audit, leaving a balance of $1.36 million still outstanding. The Nassau County budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year is $4.4 billion . 

While the 94 recipients found by the audit to have been double dipping constitute less than 1% of the county's retirees, and the impact to the overall operating budget is minimal, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips says she takes the misuse of funds very seriously.

In a telephone interview, she told Newsday “weeding out waste, fraud and abuse" is one of the office's main functions. She said new controls were put in place to ensure the duplicate payments do not happen again and the office will verify the eligibility of retirees' dependents before commencing Medicare Part B reimbursements. 

“And that’s one of my goals – not just to uncover problems but to ensure that better policies and procedure are instituted to make Nassau County more efficient going forward.”

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.