CLEVELAND, October 13 — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has secured a significant health insurance benefit improvement for members covered by the 2007 National Freight Agreements.
Effective November 1, 2008, office visit co-pays for Nurse Practitioners, Physician’s Assistants, Physical Therapists and Chiropractors will be lowered from $35 to $20. In addition, a new supplemental discount program will soon be applied to charges for out-of-network services that should result in considerable savings for BLET members.
“I am pleased to announce these benefit improvements to our membership,” said BLET National President Ed Rodzwicz. “Our National Division office has fielded complaints from members over the higher costs of seeing medical specialists, especially during the current economic downturn. Working with the rest of rail labor, we fought for and obtained these money-saving benefits.”
The BLET worked with all of rail labor under the auspices of the Cooperating Rail Labor Organizations (CRLO) and the carriers to achieve the cost reductions.
“Benefit improvements between contracts are extremely rare, and I am pleased and proud to have helped achieve these important goals,” President Rodzwicz said.