District Lodge 19 Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Offers:

Help with Medical Bills -

(excerpts from USA.gov)

If you can't afford medical care or prescription drugs, these state and federal programs may be able to help:

• HealthCare.gov helps you find insurance options, compare care, learn about prevention, and understand the Affordable Care Act.

• State human/social service agencies offer direct aid and referrals to other organizations.

• State Medicaid offices offer help to low-income people.

• Local Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offices offer programs designed to help veterans.

• Eldercare Locator information specialists put you in contact with resources and programs designed to help seniors.

• State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) help insure children of working families who cannot afford health insurance or don't get it through their work.

• Benefits.gov allows you to complete a confidential questionnaire and receive a list of programs that may help.

Help with Prescription Drug Costs -

If you're looking for help paying for your prescriptions, there are a number of local and federal agencies and programs you can contact:

• State human service agencies provide direct assistance to people in distress and referrals to other local organizations that may be able to help.

• Local health centers serve people with limited access to health care. You pay based on your income and family size.

• Medicare's Prescription Drug Program can provide extra help with the cost of prescription drugs if you qualify and are a Medicare beneficiary.

• Use Healthfinder.gov’s list of prescription assistance resources to find more programs that could help you pay for your medicines.

What The Railroad Retirement Board Is and How It Works -

Railroad Retirement Board The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government. The RRB's primary function is to administer comprehensive retirement-survivor and unemployment-sickness benefit programs for the nation's railroad workers and their families, under the Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts. As part of the retirement program, the RRB also has administrative responsibilities under the Social Security Act for certain benefit payments and railroad workers' Medicare coverage.

Provisions Full age annuities are payable at age 60 to workers with 30 years of service. For those with less than 30 years of service, reduced annuities are payable at age 62 and unreduced annuities are payable at full retirement age, which is gradually rising from 65 to 67, depending on the year of birth. Disability annuities can be paid on the basis of total or occupational disability. Annuities are also payable to spouses and divorced spouses of retired workers, widow(er)s, surviving divorced spouses, remarried widow(er)s, children, and parents of deceased railroad workers. Qualified railroad retirement beneficiaries receive Medicare coverage just like social security beneficiaries.

As noted, the RRB pays retirement annuities to employees, as well as their spouses and/or divorced spouses, if the employee had at least 10 years of railroad service, or 5 years if performed after 1995. However, for survivor benefits, there is an additional requirement that the employee's last regular employment before retirement or death was in the railroad industry. If a railroad employee or his or her survivors do not qualify for railroad retirement benefits, the RRB transfers the employee's railroad retirement credits to the Social Security Administration, which treats them as social security credits.

Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act Under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, unemployment insurance benefits are paid to railroad workers who are unemployed but ready, willing, and able to work, and sickness benefits to railroad workers unable to work because of illness or injury. The RRB also operates a placement service to help unemployed railroaders secure employment.

Benefit Year A new unemployment-sickness benefit year begins every July 1, with eligibility generally based on railroad service and earnings in the preceding calendar year. Up to 26 weeks of normal unemployment or sickness benefits are payable to an individual in a benefit year. Additional extended benefits are payable to persons with 10 or more years of service.

Railroad Medicare The Medicare program covers railroad workers just like workers covered under social security. The Medicare program provides health insurance to persons ages 65 and older, as well as persons under age 65 who have been entitled to monthly benefits based on total disability for at least 24 months or who suffer from chronic kidney disease requiring hemodialysis or transplant. In addition to basic hospital insurance (Part A) financed by payroll taxes, there is an elective supplementary medical insurance (Part B) that covers many other medical services, such as doctor visits, durable medical equipment, and outpatient services that hospital insurance does not cover.

Eligible railroad retirement annuitants and social security beneficiaries whose benefits are payable by the RRB are automatically enrolled under both plans, but the annuitant or beneficiary can decline Medicare Part B. Eligible non-retired persons must apply in order to obtain Medicare coverage. The RRB automatically enrolled some 27,100 beneficiaries for Medicare during fiscal year 2016. As of the end of that fiscal year, about 465,300 people were enrolled in the Part A plan, and over 445,900 (96 percent) of them were also enrolled in Part B. Palmetto GBA, a subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, processes medical insurance (Part B) claims for railroad retirement Medicare beneficiaries.

For more information from the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) call or go online:  (877) 772-5772  or www.rrb.gov

For assistance through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Contact:  District Lodge 19 EAP Director Josh Hartford at: (207) 474-3934 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.