Prepared by Public Affairs 312-751-4777
The Railroad Retirement Board announced its selection of Palmetto Government
Benefits Administrators LLC, a subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South
Carolina, to process the Medicare Part B medical insurance claims for
physicians’ services to about 650,000 railroad retirement annuitants. The
selection followed a competitive Federal procurement process.
Palmetto GBA will assume the existing Augusta, Georgia Medicare claims
operations facility of the Board’s previous carrier, Uniprise, a UnitedHealth
Group company, which informed the Health Care Financing Administration and the
Railroad Retirement Board in February that it is withdrawing from the Medicare
program as a claims processing contractor. Uniprise will work with the Board’s
new carrier in the transition of operations at the Augusta facility, which is 70
miles from the Palmetto GBA headquarters offices.
An independent Federal agency headquartered in Chicago, the Board administers
the over $8 billion-a-year benefit programs provided under the Railroad
Retirement and Unemployment Insurance Acts covering the nation’s railroad
workforce and their families. Railroad retirement beneficiaries are covered by
Medicare on the same basis as social security beneficiaries, and the Board,
which enrolls annuitants for Part B medical coverage and collects premiums, also
has authority to select a Part B carrier. Carriers for Part A hospital insurance
claims are selected by the Health Care Financing Administration which
administers the Medicare program.
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