The following health and wellness resources are available to those impacted by Hurricane Michael. Behavioral Health: United Behavioral Health/Optum: 1-866-342-6892 (toll-free) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week An emotional support hotline is available, free of charge, regardless [...]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced that the standard monthly Part B premium will be $135.50 in 2019, a slight increase from $134.00 in 2018. However, some Medicare beneficiaries will pay slightly less than this amount. By law, Part B premiums for c [...]
Most railroad retirement annuities, like social security benefits, will increase in January 2019 due to a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the third quarter of 2017 to the corresponding period of the current year. Cost-of-living increases are calculated in both the [...]
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 67 million Americans will increase 2.8 percent in 2019, announced the Social Security Administration (SSA). The 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more [...]
When a natural disaster, extreme weather or other emergency occurs that affects providers and the Medicare beneficiaries that they serve, special emergency-related policies and procedures may be implemented. The process begins when a governor of an affected state requests ass [...]
Under the Railroad Retirement Act, a “current connection with the railroad industry” is one of the eligibility requirements for occupational disability annuities and is one of the factors that determines whether the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) or the Social Security Admin [...]
Medicare is always working to fight fraud and abuse. With that, a new type of claim review has recently begun: a process called Targeted Probe and Educate, or ‘TPE’ for short. How TPE works: Palmetto GBA/Railroad Medicare will conduct data analysis and find providers whose bi [...]
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said at CES, an annual technology show in Las Vegas, that she plans to take steps toward creating policy guiding the development of self-driving transportation for trucks, buses, transit systems and trains. One of the steps that Ch [...]
Most railroad retirement annuities, like Social Security benefits, were scheduled to increase Jan. 1 on the basis of the rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the third quarter of 2016 to the corresponding period of 2017. The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) reports that [...]
Palmetto GBA has introduced a new beneficiary portal, MyRRMed, where users will have access to claims data, historical Medicare Summary Notices and data on who they have authorized to have access to their private health information. Portal Functions: At this time, you can use [...]