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Auxilary Aids & Services

For information about the availability of beneficiary auxiliary aids and services, please call our Beneficiary Contact Center at 800-833-4455.

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Railroad Medicare Beneficiaries
Looking Ahead: Medicare Funding for the Future

Every year, the Office of the Chief Actuary for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) prepares a report outlining how long the Medicare Trust Fund will last, using a variety of data and forecasted/predicated changes to the program. These projections are not set in stone. CMS tries to estimate changes considering new medical technologies, breakthroughs, and changes to future therapies and services.

Based on their estimates, they predict that hospital insurance (Medicare Part A) should be funded to the year 2030, which is four years later than previous reports. The statisticians came up with this four-year improvement based on lower-than-expected spending in 2013 for most hospital charges. 

Part B (which includes Railroad Medicare) is assumed to be funded for the foreseeable future because of how Part B payments to doctors/outpatient expenses/suppliers are based by current law. The current law governs the payment changes (the percent of increases or decreases given to Medicare providers and suppliers), and the payment schedule isn’t expected to change anytime soon.

That said, it’s important to protect the Trust Fund, including Part B, so that necessary medical services will be available to all Medicare patients in the future.

Everyone has a role to play in protecting the Trust Fund. CMS and Railroad Medicare take aggressive actions to identify current and prevent future fraud and abuse, which bilk the Trust Fund and jeopardize Medicare’s future. Here is what you can do to assist us:

  • Read your Medicare Summary Notices (MSNs) to see:
    • Is your name, address, and Health Insurance Claim Number (Medicare Number) correct?
    • The date of service on the statement: Is it the date you visited your doctor?
    • The description of the services your doctor billed to Medicare: were they the services you received during your visit?
  • Protect your Medicare number – share it only when necessary, keeping in mind that your doctor’s office may need to verify you are still covered under Railroad Medicare and need to validate that at each visit
  • Report any provider or supplier that says services are not covered by Medicare, but they know how to bill Medicare to receive payment. 
  • Visit this website to learn more: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov/

If you need help reading your MSN or you find something on it that appears to be wrong, please call our toll-free Beneficiary Customer Service Center at 800-833-4455, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. ET. For the hearing impaired, call TTY/TDD at 877-566-3572. We also encourage you to sign up for our email updates from our 'Stay Connected' section on the website. We also would love for you to visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/myrrmedicare.

 

last updated on 06/17/2015
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