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Many physicians and medical practitioners are choosing to withdraw from participation in Medicare. This has a direct financial impact on all UTU members who are retired or intend to retire in the near future.

If you are eligible for Medicare, and your physician or medical practitioner withdraws from participation in Medicare, you are faced with a choice of signing a binding contract for continued medical services or choosing a physician who does participate with Medicare.

While Palmetto GBA, which administers Railroad Medicare, provided the following information, this alert also affects airline and bus members covered by Medicare.

If you are covered by Medicare, and your physician or medical practitioner has withdrawn or withdraws from participation in Medicare, the physician or medical practitioner will ask you to sign a contract for future services that would have been covered by Medicare prior to the physician or medical practitioner withdrawing from Medicare participation.

Once you sign the contract, Medicare will not pay for any services provided by that physician or medical practitioner. Additionally, no Medicare payment may be made to you for items or services provided directly by a physician or practitioner who has opted out of Medicare.

The contract you will be asked to sign is a binding agreement that you give up Medicare payment for services furnished by the physician or medical practitioner and that you agree to pay from your own pocket the physician or medical practitioner without regard to any limits that would otherwise apply to what they charge.

The only exception is in an emergency or urgent care situation.

Even if you sign such a contract with your physician, you may still receive services from other physicians and practitioners who are participating with Medicare.

“Physician” means doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathy, doctors of dental surgery, doctors of dental medicine, doctors of podiatric medicine and doctors of optometry.

“Medical practitioner” means physician assistant, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, certified registered nurse anesthetist, certified nurse midwife, clinical psychologist, clinical social worker, registered dietitian and nutrition professional.

Not affected are chiropractors, physical therapists and occupational therapists. They are not permitted to withdraw from Medicare participation.

If you are asked to sign a contract with a physician or medical practitioner who withdraws from Medicare participation, the contract must:

  • Be in writing and in print large enough so you can read it.
  • State whether the physician or medical practitioner is excluded from Medicare.
  • State that you or your legal representative accept full responsibility for payment of charges for all services provided by the physician/practitioner.
  • State that the you or your legal representative understand that Medicare limits do not apply to what the physician/practitioner may charge for items or services provided by the physician/practitioner.
  • State that you or your legal representative agree not to submit a claim to Medicare or to ask the physician or medical practitioner to submit a claim to Medicare.
  • State that you or your legal representative understand that Medicare payments will not be made for any items or services furnished by the physician or medical practitioner that would have otherwise been covered by Medicare if there was no contract and a proper Medicare claim had been submitted.
  • State that you or your legal representative are entering into the contract with the knowledge that you have the right to obtain Medicare-covered items and services from physicians and practitioners who have not opted out of Medicare.
  • State that you are not compelled to enter into contracts that apply to other Medicare-covered services provided by other physicians or practitioners who have not withdrawn from Medicare participation.
  • State the expected or known effective date and expected or known expiration date of the withdrawal period.
  • State that you or your legal representative understand that Medigap plans do not — and that other supplemental plans may elect not — to make payments for items and services not paid for by Medicare.
  • Be signed by you or your legal representative and by the physician or medical practitioner.
  • Not be entered into by you or your legal representative during a time when you require emergency care services or urgent care services.
  • Be provided to you (photo copy is acceptable) or to your legal representative before items or services are furnished to you under the terms of the contract; and be made available to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid upon request.

Staying with, or going to, a physician who does not participate in Medicare is a difficult choice.

Retirees covered by Railroad Medicare may call the Railroad Beneficiary Contact Center at (800) 833-4455 or TTY at (877) 566-3572 to obtain names of physicians and medical practitioners in their area who participate in Medicare.

Those not covered by Railroad Medicare should contact their Medicare provider.

For more information on Railroad Medicare, sign up for email updates at :

www.palmettogba.com/medicare

Select “e-mail updates” under the “Stay Connected” section. You also may receive updates through Railroad Medicare’s Twitter or Facebook page by going to:

www.facebook.com/#!/myrrmedicare

 

An opinion article recently published by the Financial Times and Fox News, written by conservative financial columnist Liz Peek, takes a nasty and incorrect swipe at Railroad Retirement, saying Railroad Retirement should be eliminated and folded into Social Security.

The argument begins with a major falsehood — that Railroad Retirement is costing the American taxpayer.

In fact, Railroad Retirement costs the American taxpayer not a single penny.

Not only are all Railroad Retirement benefits paid from payroll taxes of railroads and their workers, but so is the overhead operation of the Railroad Retirement Board.

Scrapping Railroad Retirement and folding it into Social Security wouldn’t save the federal government or the American taxpayer a single penny. But shutting it down would ravage the retirement security of some 600,000 current railroad retirees and their families, as well as future railroad retirees and their families.

The truth is:

  • The Railroad Retirement Tier I benefit is roughly equivalent to Social Security benefits.

Railroads and their employees each pay the same 6.2 percent payroll tax as employers and employees covered by Social Security. In what is strictly an accounting transfer, Railroad Retirement payroll taxes are transferred by the Railroad Retirement Board to the Social Security Administration, and then Social Security returns the equivalent Social Security benefits due railroad retirees to the Railroad Retirement Board. It is strictly an accounting transfer.

Although Tier I does provide benefits beyond what is paid by Social Security — such as early retirement and occupational disability — those additional Tier I benefits are paid entirely out of the Railroad Retirement Trust Fund — maintained entirely by railroads and their employees through payroll taxes.

  • The Railroad Retirement Tier II benefit, which is equivalent to a defined benefit private pension, is fully funded by additional payroll taxes paid solely by railroads and their employees — 3.9 percent by employees and 12.1 percent by railroads.
  • If the Railroad Retirement Trust Fund faces a shortfall, railroads are on the hook for higher payroll taxes — not the American taxpayer. That’s the law.

Railroad Retirement was created before there was Social Security, and has remained separate from Social Security, but is funded fully by railroads and their employees.

Although Congress sets the payroll tax rates and benefit levels, it does so in collaboration with railroads and rail labor — and not a penny of general tax revenue has been or is used for Railroad Retirement.

The unwarranted, unsubstantiated and unjust attack on Railroad Retirement by right-wing extremists is as phony as claiming that elimination of public-employee collective bargaining rights will solve state financial problems.

The mean-spirited attack on Railroad Retirement is part of a more broad effort to weaken and destroy organized labor.

Throughout America Monday, UTU members joined with brothers and sisters across craft and industrial lines in We Are One rallies reinforcing labor solidarity and raising public awareness of mean-spirited attacks on collective bargaining rights by right-wing extremists.

The word went forth that labor will not stand passive as anti-union zealots elected to state legislatures seek to dismantle public-employee unions through laws revoking collective bargaining rights, curtailing dues check-off and forcing costly annual representation elections.

There is an end-game: Reminding elected officials that organized labor remains a potent political force able to mobilize millions of voters, and to set the stage for recall elections of anti-union lawmakers and voter referendums to nullify the legislative assault on collective bargaining rights.

“The immense activity this week is a direct result of the backlash provoked by overreaching governors and legislators,” said AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka.

Labor leaders nationwide recognize that the assault on public-employee collective bargaining rights is part of a right-wing effort to extend the anti-union assault to private sector unions. Anti-union extremists already have urged an assault on Railroad Retirement Tier II and the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA).

The UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund, established to help support public awareness of anti-union actions by right-wing extremists is just one example of union solidarity, being duplicated by dozens of other labor organizations in the public and private sectors.

Thousands of dollars already have been contributed to the UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund for this purpose, and UTU members and retirees are urged to add to the contributions already received from locals, general committees and state legislative boards.

In Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich signed into law a bill curtailing public-employee collective bargaining rights, the effort to nullify that law in a November voter referendum already has begun.

Over the next 90 days, union members and their supporters in Ohio will collect the necessary 231,000 signatures to put the Ohio legislation to a voter referendum in November.

Efforts also have begun in Wisconsin to recall legislators who voted in favor of curtailing public-employee collective bargaining rights in that state.

“If you believe in something strong enough, you fight for it,” said UTU International President Mike Futhey in urging donations to the UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund. “Together, in solidarity, we can and will win this fight and emerge stronger than ever.”

Checks to the UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund should be sent to:

UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund
United Transportation Union
Suite 340
24950 Country Club Blvd.
North Olmsted, OH 44070-5333

 

YORK, Pa. — UTU-represented trainmen, engineers and carmen employed by York Railway have ratified new collective bargaining agreements, with 100 percent of the membership voting in favor of contracts retroactive to Jan. 1, 2010 and extending through Dec. 31, 2014.

The agreements provide for full back pay, wage increases, parity for carmen who qualified as engineers and trainmen, a 401-k investment plan with a carrier match, increases in disability insurance, a life-insurance benefit, a cap on health care insurance premiums, and pay for lost time due to unavailability resulting from mandatory rest days required by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

UTU International Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted with negotiations, praised the efforts of York Railway General Chairperson Dave McCarthy for his “excellent job during the negotiations and in maintaining the lines of communication with carrier officers to finally complete the agreements.”

York Railway is a 42-mile Pennsylvania shortline controlled by Genesee & Wyoming. It interchanges with Canadian Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Coy Marie Bradshaw Futhey, age 89, mother of UTU International President Mike Futhey, died April 3 in a nursing home here.
She was active in the Auxiliary of the UTU and its predecessor, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and served as president and legislative representative for UTU Auxiliary Lodge 755 in Memphis.
Active politically as a precinct official, she also taught Roberts Rules of Order to high school students, was a PTA president, a softball coach, held numerous offices in her church and was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.
In addition to son Mike Futhey, Mrs. Futhey had three daughters — Bette Little and Gloria Crawford, both of Memphis, and the late Nancy Bass — as well as 13 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
Her husband, Malcolm Futhey Sr., who died in 2003, was a member of BRT Lodge 489 at Memphis, later UTU Local 1420. He served as his local’s secretary and treasurer and local chairperson, serving more than 1,000 members. He also served as his local’s insurance representative.
The elder Futhey was elected a local chairperson the same year former UTU International President Fred Hardin was elected a local chairperson on Southern Railway (now part of Norfolk Southern).
The elder Futhey also served as deputy president under UTU predecessor Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen President Parke Kennedy.
A funeral was held April 6 in Memphis.

Coy Marie Bradshaw Futhey

 

WASHINGTON — Although 16 Republicans refused to be cowed by their conservative leadership, the House of Representatives last week succeeded in another attack on collective bargaining by voting to nullify a National Mediation Board ruling making representation elections for airline and railroad workers more democratic.

All Democrats in the House stood with the NMB and labor, and 16 Republicans crossed over to do the same; but it was not enough given the Republican majority.

The House action, nullifying the NMB ruling in favor of more democratic representation elections, is contained in a Federal Aviation Administration authorizing bill.

The 220-206 vote to nullify the NMB ruling through legislation is not the end. The anti-union provision does not appear in a companion bill previously passed by the Senate, which means a House-Senate conference committee will have an opportunity to remove the anti-union provision from the bill before it goes back to the two chambers for a final vote.

President Obama said he will veto the FAA authorization bill if the anti-labor provision appears in the final bill.

The provision in the bill, inserted at the request of airlines, is to overturn an NMB ruling last year that scrapped the undemocratic means by which airline and railroad representation votes, under the Railway Labor Act, are counted.

Prior to the NMB ruling, those not voting in representation elections were considered to have cast a “no” vote for representation. The NMB changed the rule to provide that a simple majority of those actually voting determine the outcome of representation elections.

Were Congress to succeed in overturning the new NMB representation election rule, the NMB procedure would be counter to all other elections.

Neither elections for Congress, the White House or even the PTA count as “no” votes those not voting. In fact, as documented by the Communications Workers of America, had the Republican-desired provision been in effect for 2010 congressional elections, not a single member of Congress would have been elected.

Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) introduced an amendment to remove the anti-union provision from the FAA reauthorization bill, and it was that amendment that was defeated by the 220-206 vote. The FAA reauthorization bill then passed the House by a 223-196 vote.

In threatening a veto of the FAA reauthorization bill if the anti-union provision remains, President Obama said the provision “would undermine a fundamental principle of fairness in union representation elections — that outcomes should be determined by a majority of the valid ballots cast.”

Earlier, airlines were turned back by a federal court in an effort to invalidate the NMB ruling, with the court giving deference to the experts at the NMB.

Republican members of the House, who refused to cast an anti-labor vote and joined with House Democrats were:

Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.)

Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.)

Chris Gibson (N.Y.)

Michael Grimm (N.Y.)

Timothy Johnson (Ill.)

Walter Jones (N.C.)

Peter King (N.Y.)

Steven LaTourette (Ohio)

Frank LoBiondo (N.J.)

Todd Platts (Pa.)

Dave Reichert (Wash.)

David Rivera (Fla.)

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.)

Jon Runyan (N.J)

Christopher Smith (N.J.)

Don Young (Alaska)

The Federal Railroad Administration’s permanent ban on use of electronic devices, including cellphones, became effective March 28, 2011.

Please make careful note of the following:

  • In the event of a collision, derailment or fatality, one of the first actions taken by National Transportation Safety Board investigators is pull the phone records of all crew members involved.
  • NTSB investigators ALSO pull the phone records of crew members on other trains in the area of the event, including the last train at that location, or any other person they think may even remotely shed light on the event being investigated.
  • You don’t have to be directly involved to have your phone records examined by NTSB investigators.

The NTSB has authority under the law to demand these records from cellphone providers. These actions are taken because the NTSB considers distractions to be major contributors to collisions, derailments and fatalities, and the use of electronic devices, including cellphones, are considered a distraction.

Moreover, a carrier’s rule relating to the FRA ban on the use of electronic devices, including cellphones, may be more restrictive than the FRA regulations.

It is thus essential you also be aware of your carrier’s rules as they relate to the electronic device and cellphone ban. While the FRA does not permit carrier bans to be less restrictive than the FRA final rule on the ban, the FRA does permit carriers to have a more restrictive rule.

The UTU Transportation Safety Task Force cautions that the safest course of action for our members working in train service is to turn off your cellphone at the beginning of a shift and keep it off.

Many of our members are taking a leadership role in reminding fellow crew members to turn off cellphones and other electronic devices.

We understand many conductors and engineers are starting their shift by showing other crew members that they have turned off their phone.

This is an outstanding way to promote safety through leadership, and we encourage each UTU member to be a leader in this effort.

In solidarity,

UTU Rail Safety Task Force

Greg Hynes, UTU Arizona state legislative director

Steve Evans, UTU Arkansas state legislative director

Jerry Gibson, UTU Michigan state legislative director

Highlights of the permanent ban on electronic devices and cellphones:

  • The ban prohibits the use of an electronic device — whether personal or railroad supplied — if it interferes with that employee’s or another employee’s performance of safety-related duties. This means while the train is moving, a member of the crew is on the ground or riding rolling equipment during switching, or any railroad employee is assisting in the preparation of the train for movement.
  • While railroad-supplied electronic devices may not be used by the engineer while the train is moving, they may be used by the conductor for authorized business purposes in the cab if use does not interfere with performance of safety-related duties, a safety briefing is conducted that includes all crew members, and all crew members agree that it is safe to use the railroad-supplied electronic device.
  • There is no exception for personal or medical emergencies, such as to check on an ill or injured family member.
  • The ban includes use of personal global positioning service (GPS) devices.
  • The use of calculators is permitted for determining formulas such as train stopping calculations or tons per operative brake.
  • Stand-alone cameras (not part of a cellphone or other electronic device) are permitted to document a safety hazard or a violation of a rail safety law, regulation order, or standard. The camera must be turned off immediately after use. Stand-alone cameras may not be used by the engineer for the above purposes when the train is in motion.
  • Crew members may use railroad-supplied multi-functional devices that include a camera for authorized business purposes as specified by the railroad in writing, and only after being approved by the FRA. An engineer is banned from using such a device when the train is in motion. The railroad-supplied device must be turned off immediately after use.
  • Deadheading crews may use personal electronic devices when not in the cab of the controlling locomotive and such use does not compromise the safety of any operating employee or the safety duties of another operating employee. But when in the cab of the controlling locomotive, deadheading employees are prohibited from using any electronic devices; and they must be turned off and the earpiece must be removed.
  • Personal medical devices such as hearing aids and blood sugar monitors may be used, but must be consistent with the railroad’s standards for medical fitness for duty.
  • A passenger train conductor or assistant conductor may use a railroad-supplied electronic or electrical device for an approved business purpose while on duty within the body of a passenger train or railroad business car. Use of the device shall not interfere with the responsibility to call or acknowledge any signal, inspect any passing train, or perform any other safety-sensitive duty assigned under the railroad’s operating rules and special instructions.
  • A passenger-train conductor or assistant conductor located inside the cab may use a GPS application or a railroad-supplied camera if the crew has held a safety briefing and all crewmembers have unanimously agreed that it is safe to use the device.
  • A passenger-train crewmember outside the cab of a locomotive may use a railroad-supplied camera to photograph a safety hazard if it is for an authorized business purpose and does not interfere with safety-related duties.
  • Railroads have the right to implement their own more stringent rules on the use of electronic devices; but railroads may not liberalize any provisions of the FRA permanent ban.
  • The ban does not subject engineers or conductors (when conductor certification is implemented) to revocation of their certification for a violation of the ban.
  • The FRA has authority under the law to subpoena cellphone records from a cellphone provider.

To read the FRA’s final 40-page rule imposing the permanent ban on electronic devices, including cellphones, click on the following link:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov:80/2010/2010-23916.htm

April 4, 2011

A memorial fund has been established for the three killed in a collision between a shuttle-van and freight train in Kelso, Wash., March 23.
A second fund was established to assist a UTU-member and conductor critically injured in the accident.
Killed in the collision at a private highway-rail grade-crossing were BNSF conductor-trainee Christopher Loehr, 28; BNSF locomotive engineer Thomas Kenny, 58; and van driver Steven Sebastian, 60. Critically injured was BNSF conductor Dwight Hauck, 51, a member and trustee of UTU Local 324, Seattle.
Hauck, Loehr and Kenny, who had brought a BNSF freight train from Seattle to Kelso, were passengers in the BNSF-provided shuttle van driven by Sebastian when it was hit by a BNSF freight train at the crossing. A Federal Railroad Administration investigation is underway to determine the cause of the accident.
Donations to the memorial fund will be divided equally among the families of Loehr, Kenny and Sebastian. They should be sent to:

BNSF Memorial Fund 2011
Account 38430
Cascade Federal Credit Union
4035 23rd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98199

Donations to the fund to aid the injured Hauck and his family should be sent to:

Dwight Hauck Fund
Account 8277835552
Wells Fargo Bank
999 3rd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98104

WASHINGTON — Observing that her five-year-old soccer-mom van contains safety technology more advanced than is integrated into many motor coaches, National Transportation Safety Board Chairperson Deborah Hersman March 30 chided Congress and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for dragging their feet on bus safety legislation and regulation.

Hersman testified before the Senate Transportation Subcommittee that available technology, if installed on motor coaches, could prevent many accidents and save many more lives. NTSB recommendations to this end have been ignored by Congress and federal regulators for years, Hersman said.

Safety advocate Joan Claybrook, who previously chaired the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told the subcommittee that the safety improvements advocated by the NTSB could be installed at the cost of five cents per bus ticket, based on annual bus ridership of about 750 million passengers.

Bus industry executives have been fighting for years to block mandated safety improvements, such as stronger roofs that won’t shear off or crush in accidents, and stronger windows, complaining the cost is too great.

Technology — such as electronic stability control to help prevent rollovers, cruise control that adjusts a vehicle’s speed to traffic conditions, and exits making it easier for passengers to escape after accidents — are examples of technology that exist “and it’s important that it be applied to the vehicles most in need of it,” Hersman testified.

The only safety improvements for motor coaches in the process of being mandated by the federal government are bans on texting while driving, the use of cellphones, installation of on-board recorders and installation of passenger seat belts — and even those rules have not be made final by regulators, the subcommittee was told.

The Department of Transportation testified that its attempt at requiring tougher driving training and testing standards have been challenged and blocked by courts. It has been more than six years since the DOT set out to redraft such rules.

Legislation was introduced in the Senate earlier this month to require much of what the NSTB advocates; but previous attempts as passage of similar legislation failed to gain sufficient votes in Congress.

To read more about that legislation, click on the following link:

https://www.smart-union.org/news/bus-safety-bills-introduced-in-house-senate/

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s official. The Ohio House and Senate have passed anti-union legislation that limits public-employee collective bargaining.

Gov. John Kasich intends to sign the bill into law.

The legislation bars strikes by public employees and limits collective bargaining to wages — but only if the public body chooses to bargain collectively. Otherwise, wages — as well as health care benefits, pensions and outsourcing — will be set unilaterally by public bodies.

The bill also limits payroll deduction for union political action committees and eliminates the use of seniority in determining layoffs.

In the works is a voter referendum for the fall that would overturn the legislation. The UTU, through the newly created UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund, will help in that effort.

A labor-law professor at Ohio State University told The New York Times, “The essence of collective bargaining is when you can’t agree on terms of a contract, you have a dispute resolution mechanism, by strikes or perhaps binding arbitration. Here, you have none of that. That’s not collective bargaining. I’d call it collective begging. It’s a conversation that ends whenever an employer decides that it ends.”

Said the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees: “[The legislation] undermines our basic American values by attacking the right of Ohio workers to have a voice on the job.””

In Wisconsin, similar legislation was passed without Democrats voting; and is now being challenged in state courts.

Other states, where right-wing extremists control the legislature — as in Ohio and Wisconsin — are also considering Ohio- and Wisconsin-like anti-union legislation.

To learn more of what is happening in your state, contact your state legislative director.