i have received social security disability for many many years, my husband retired from the rail road, just about 3 years ago, All of a sudden the rail road had taken over paying my medicare part B deductible at a much higher amount!! IF however, they tell me, i let them ( the rail road retirement board ) take over paying my SSI to me, they will lower the deductible again. is this bribe? am being punished for not letting them pay my SSI? what gives?

Hi,

I'm not an expert on Railroad Retirement (RR), so I can't fully answer your question. What I do know is that if a person on Social Security is potentially eligible for RR, the payment process is called railroad certification. Instead of certifying payments directly to the Treasury Department for payment, Social Security certifies benefit payments to RR who in turn passes the information on to the Treasury Dept. This permits RR to determine the person's combined payment rate if they are eligible for both Social Security and RR benefits.

I don't know why this change would affect your Medicare premium rate, though, unless your benefit rate has increased or your total income is high enough to cause the variable part B rates to kick in (https://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/part-b-costs/part-b-costs.html). You'll probably need to ask the Railroad Retirement Board for an explanation if they've assumed jurisdiction of your Medicare coverage.

Best, Jerry