Category: Healthcare
RRB: Sequestration hits unemployment and sickness benefits
Railroad Unemployment and Sickness Benefits Will See Slight Decrease in New Sequestration Reduction Rate Under the Budget Control Act of 2011, and a subsequent sequestration order to implement mandated cuts, railroad unemployment and sickness insurance benefits are reduced by [...]
Palmetto GBA: Medicare telehealth coverage expands
Telehealth is a Medicare-approved healthcare service between a provider and a patient via a telecommunication system (such as by phone or video chat). It’s been a covered service for more than a decade, focusing on rural areas where appropriate care may be hard to come by. Pa [...]
United Rail Unions sue to block carriers from modifying Healthcare benefits without bargaining
Washington, D.C. (Aug. 7, 2020) — On August 5, 2020, 12 rail unions whose members and their families are covered by the NRC/UTU Plan and the Railroad Employees National Health and Welfare Plan filed suit against the nation’s Class I railroad carriers in the United States Dist [...]RRB Q&A: Unemployment and Sickness Benefits for Railroad Employees
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) administers the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA), which provides two kinds of benefits for qualified railroaders: unemployment benefits for those who become unemployed but are ready, willing, and able to work; and sickness benefit [...]
VSTD COVID-19 Elimination Period Waiver is Extended
June 17, 2020 Dear Member: As many of you may recall, the SMART Voluntary Short Term Disability Plan temporarily suspended the Elimination Period for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) disabilities. In an announcement to you dated April 15, 2020, we communicated that the Elimination Peri [...]
Broad alliance tells White House: Transit workers need better protection from COVID-19
SMART General President Joseph Sellers Jr. and SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson as well as dozens of unions, business groups, economic justice organizations, and local transit advocates from across the nation wrote today to Vice President Mike Pence and [...]
Vendor American Products taking bulk orders of facemasks
Arrangements have been made to have bulk quantities of facemasks for order through American Products Inc., an endorsed SMART Transportation Division vendor. Two style options are available – one with a washable filter insert and a second single-layer cloth mask. These are cus [...]
America’s freight railroads refuse to cover out-of-pocket COVID-19 treatment costs
While America and the world struggle to combat the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, new heroes have emerged. While much of America has long celebrated its athletes and celebrities as its heroes, this pandemic has shown us who the real heroes are in our society. At the onset of Wo [...]