Railroad Folks, Comment on Your Medicare Forms Now
Published Date: 1/24/2025
Notice
Summary
The Railroad Retirement Board is updating and adding forms to help railroad workers and their families apply for Medicare benefits more easily. They want your feedback on these changes to make sure the forms are clear, useful, and not too much work to fill out. If you’re a railroad retiree or family member, keep an eye out and share your thoughts before the deadline!
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
RRB updates Medicare application forms
The Railroad Retirement Board is updating Forms AA-6, AA-7, AA-8, and RL-311-F and is adding new Forms AA-23 and AA-24 to help railroad retirees and their families apply for Medicare benefits more easily. These changes are intended to make the forms clearer and more useful for applicants.
Forms required to obtain Medicare benefit
The notice states that completion of the RRB forms is required to obtain Medicare payments or enrollment determinations for persons covered by the railroad retirement system.
New Part B enrollment forms added
The RRB added Form AA-23 to determine eligibility to enroll in Medicare Medical Insurance (Part B) during the Initial Enrollment Period (IEP), Special Enrollment Period (SEP), or General Enrollment Period (GEP), and added Form AA-24 to determine SEP eligibility for exceptional conditions.
Estimated annual paperwork time burden
The RRB estimates annual respondent burden for these forms totals 3,840 responses and 368 hours per year. Individual form estimates include: AA-6 (180 responses, 8 minutes each, 24 hours), AA-7 (50 responses, 8 minutes, 7 hours), AA-8 (10 responses, 8 minutes, 1 hour), AA-23 (1,000 responses, 5 minutes, 1 hour), AA-24 (600 responses, 10 minutes, 2 hours), and RL-311-F (2,000 responses, 10 minutes, 333 hours).
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Key Dates
Related Federal Register Documents
2026-16251, Jurisdiction Determinations
The Railroad Retirement Board amends its regulations to reflect statutory amendments granting jurisdiction to the Board to pay benefits under the Railroad Retirement Act and under Title II of the Social Security Act to railroad employees and auxiliary beneficiaries who have less than ten years of railroad service, but at least five years after 1995. The amendment also adds divorced spouses to the list of auxiliary beneficiaries to whom the Board will pay benefits in accordance with controlling law. The existing regulation is no longer consistent with the statutory criteria in the Railroad Retirement Act for jurisdictional determinations and is therefore facially unlawful.
2026-16250, Determining Disability
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2026-14437, Proposed Collection; Comment Request
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2026-10206, Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment
The Railroad Retirement Board announced that civil monetary penalties won’t go up in 2026 because the government couldn’t get the inflation data needed to adjust them. This means penalties will stay the same as in 2025, affecting anyone who might face fines under these rules. So, no surprise hikes next year—penalties hold steady, keeping things predictable!
2026-10078, Annuity Beginning and Ending Dates
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