HOHENWALD, Tenn. -- Residents who receive a Social Security check, or know someone who does, may have been in shock this month.

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The amount of those checks was substantially less than expected, leaving those on already tight budgets with some problems.

"Somebody basically stole $290 from me this month, and not telling me it was going to happen until just a week, or so, before it did," said Social Security recipient Gayla Groom.

Groom lives in Lewis County and struggles to live on Social Security disability checks. This month is even tougher because she's receiving nearly $300 less than normal, she says thanks to an error by the state of Tennessee.

"What it means to me is that I don't have any money to do any of the other things I was going to do this month, like buy groceries, buy dog food or get a hair cut. I don't have money to put gas in my car. I don't have money to get my prescription filled," said Groom.

The Tennessee Health Care Campaign, a healthcare watchdog group, confirms that Groom and about 100,000 others in Tennessee were notified that after July they no longer qualified for TennCare to pay their Medicare medical insurance premiums.

But a number of those recipients weren't notified until September. They didn't have time to cancel their Medicare, so the premiums for August and September were taken out of their October checks.

"Social Security people I guess said, 'We're not going to get the money for August and September from the state, so we'll just take it from the people we can just take out real easy,'" said Groom.

The Tennessee health care campaign said TennCare officials should have notified everyone earlier to avoid leaving people short this month.

TennCare officials said they sent letters 20 days before termination, and that it's an ongoing process. Social Security officials are also looking into the matter.

In meantime, many people like Groom are left in a bind this month and unable to afford to pay for the insurance they lost.

"What they should have done at the very least is offered us a payment plan like $20-40 a month," said Groom.

Groom said she never got a termination letter from TennCare. Officials are looking into that matter.