Sen. Richard Blumenthal says he wants answers after a local small business owner lost his Medicare benefits in the wake of a heart attack.

As News 12 has reported, Mark Schachter says he lost his medical coverage after missing two payments because he was hospitalized.

The senior says he immediately caught up on his payments after coming home from the hospital, but his benefits have yet to be restored.

"I'm going to be looking into this apparent refusal to pay well-deserved Medicare benefits to Mark Schachter. It may be simply the tip of the iceberg if there are others — and I encourage them to come forward — who have been denied this kind of Medicare benefits they have earned and they deserve."

The senior says he still pays for supplemental healthcare coverage because he's still working. News 12 has reached out to the Social Security Administration, which administers Medicare benefits, but have not yet heard back.