The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced that the standard monthly Part B premium will be $110.50 in 2010. However, most Medicare beneficiaries will not see an increase in their monthly Part B premiums in 2010 because of a “hold-harmless” pro [...]
By Norman K. Brown UTU medical consultant There is an old saying among physicians that patients will lie more often about their drug usage and their sex lives than about any other topics. So, please, just give me the facts. What drugs was Michael Jackson taking when he died? [...]
(The following information was released Sept. 30, 2009, by UnitedHealthcare.) “We are concerned about the health and welfare of our members affected by the recent floods in Georgia and we have taken immediate action to offer: Assistance for members in locating an in-net [...]
WASHINGTON – The UTU and 30 other trade unions have jointly written members of Congress in opposition “to any proposal” that would pay for health care reform “by altering the tax treatment of employer-provided health care. “We believe this would be a step in the wrong directi [...]
Here’s an opportunity to save a 44-cent stamp and better assure your UnitedHealthcare payments for GA-23111 plans and COBRA coverage arrive on time. It’s called electronic funds transfer, or EFT, and it permits your UnitedHealthcare premiums for GA-23111 plans and [...]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17, 2009, may temporarily reduce the premium you have to pay to purchase Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) continuation coverage under the medi [...]
Aetna has corrected the coordination-of-benefits policy of the national dental plan it administers for UTU members employed on freight railroads and Amtrak. The change applies only where Aetna is the secondary payer and the primary payer is another dental-insurance plan. An a [...]
The SMART-TD Membership Services Department has compiled a list of frequently asked questions from SMART-TD rail members regarding medical-benefits coverage and has supplied appropriate answers to these questions. These questions pertain to coverage when an employee is workin [...]
By Norman K. Brown, M.D., UTU medical consultant Please wash your hands. Micro-organisms – bacteria, viruses, yeasts – are all around us. Bacteria live especially closely with us, most often in a friendly manner, in the nose, mouth, lower intestine, genitals, on t [...]
By Dr. Norman BrownUTU Medical Consultant Baseball legend Mickey Mantle once joked, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” I wish more of us, including myself, would look into their crystal balls of the future and find themse [...]
SMART Union