On December 21, 2001, President Bush signed
the Railroad Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act of 2001. The
Railroad Retirement Board’s summary of the changes — which include
allowing workers with 30 years of service to retire at age 60 with no
reduction in benefits and increasing surviving spouses’ benefits by
an average of $300 a month — appears on page 9 of this JOURNAL.
Information about the new law’s effect on health care from United
HealthCare is on page 10.
The original version of the bill, HR 1140, was passed by the House
of Representatives on July 31 by a 384 to 33 majority. The Senate
version of the bill, HR 10, was approved by the Senate on December 5
by a 90 to 9 majority. |