WASHINGTON – About 230,000 Medicare recipients are getting checks that erroneously reimburse them for monthly premiums they have paid for prescription drug coverage this year.

The checks, which are sure to leave many beneficiaries confused, average about $215. They are accompanied by a letter that mistakenly tells them the Social Security Administration will no longer deduct monthly premiums for drug coverage from their Social Security check.

Medicare officials say they caught the glitch just after checks totaling nearly $50 million were sent out last week. As a result, they began sending a second letter Tuesday instructing the elderly and disabled not to cash the checks and assuring them that their prescription drug coverage will continue.

“It’s very important for people to know their coverage is continuing,” said Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “There’s no disruption at all.”

Overall, about 5 million people pay their monthly premiums for drug coverage by having the government withhold the money from their Social Security check.

McClellan said this his agency will make sure that insurers continue to get payment for the beneficiaries caught up in the error. He said that his agency was responsible for the error and that the subsequent letter going out Tuesday contains an apology.

The error occurred as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services updated the Social Security Administration about various changes in coverage that beneficiaries had requested. For instance, beneficiaries contact CMS because they want to switch plans or change how they pay their monthly premiums. CMS contacts Social Security officials because the changes often require an adjustment in the amount deducted from a beneficiary’s checks. In this instance, the wrong information was transmitted, McClellan said.

McClellan stressed that the checks beneficiaries get will have to be returned. Also, beneficiaries need to know that the government won’t be able to start making monthly deductions again until October.

He said the agency will work with beneficiaries who face a money crunch in the fall because they had already cashed the check from the Social Security Administration or because they can’t afford to have premiums from a few months deducted from one Social Security check.

“The amounts involved here are generally not large, but we want to make sure that as we account for these extra payments, we do it in a way that’s not burdensome,” McClellan said. “There are a number of approaches we can take, including doing it over time if necessary when it’s not a trivial amount of money for the beneficiary.”

He said beneficiaries from throughout the U.S. were affected by the glitch.