When Estelle called Medicare Rights’ helpline, she was upset and at a loss after her Medicare drug plan kept billing her for $8,000 that she did not owe. The out-of-pocket costs of her medications had already been covered by Extra Help, a Medicare prescription drug assistance program for people with low incomes. However, Social Security mistakenly dropped her from the program going back the full six years that she was enrolled.

A Medicare Rights counselor advocated tirelessly on Estelle’s behalf and, after several months of communication with multiple offices and government agencies, Social Security finally corrected their mistake. The drug plan stopped billing Estelle, and she did not have to pay anything for her prescriptions for all the years she was rightly enrolled in the Extra Help program.