No more health coverage for 10,000 airline employees

Skywest
A HSA is a form of health coverage. Some people like HSA plans.

talk to someone who has a family of four and has been through some form of cancer/ life threatening event.

There should be a choice. It shouldnt be forced.

Let me guess, you're young, don't have many health problems, and think you'll never break anything, ever?
 
talk to someone who has a family of four and has been through some form of cancer/ life threatening event.

There should be a choice. It shouldnt be forced.

Let me guess, you're young, don't have many health problems, and think you'll never break anything, ever?

While I partially agree that it should be a choice - it can work out great for a family of four, even if problems come up unless they are chronic or yearly. (Speaking from experience.)

I have to say though, being on the plan is a real eye opener. You start to see the true cost of health care and (this is another debate entirely) I think we'd start to see consumer driven reform to health care cost if more were forced to use this type of plan. For example, I used to use two different doctors locally, depending on which was more convenient - one charges $80 per visit while the other charges $60 and both provide the same level of service. Also, our kid's doctor is $90-110 per visit (depending on child's age) while the nurse practitioner at the same office is only $55. Not the same level of knowledge but I can diagnose ear infections now so why pay $35+ extra just to get a prescription.
 
What is the deductible for employee and then for employee+family? The HSA we have at Delta is $2300 for employee and $4500 for family. Next April is when our next kid is due to pop out so I ran the expense calculator on our benefits website. Surprisingly, the HSA was cheaper than the 90% PPO that only has a $500 deductible.

Total medical expenses next year for me under the HSA will be about $6000 and under the PPO would be $10,000. That includes all out of pocket expenses like premiums, copays and deductibles. I still think that the cost is atrocious but, it is what it is.
 
I don't consider a HSA to be health coverage, of course I don't have a family so my premiums are low low low for real health insurance.

Hopefully everyone in the USA will have health insurance soon anyway.
 
I don't consider a HSA to be health coverage, of course I don't have a family so my premiums are low low low for real health insurance.

Hopefully everyone in the USA will have health insurance soon anyway.

It depends what we're talking about. An HSA is typically paired with a high-deductible insurance plan. In return for the high deductible, the insured enjoys a very low premium. The "high" part of the deductible is typically in the $2000-$5000 range. Everything up to the amount the policy holder pays for. If you start getting into health expenses above that, the insurance company pays for it all. This is more along the lines of catastrophic insurance.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic way to have insurance. It puts the control and responsibility of routine health care in the hands of the individual. It acts like real insurance does and protects the policy holder against things they can't afford (catastrophic events.) In the event of a catastrophic event, it protects the policy holder - under a normal plan you may have to pay 20% of the hospitalization, tests, and procedures. Under a high-deductible plan you are fully covered after you meet your deductible. No surprises - no unplanned expenses.

HSAs are your money. They money rolls over year to year. So, if you choose to keep funding it monthly and you're a healthy person the account grows substantially so that if you become an un-healthy person you have a healthy reserve available.
 

It depends what we're talking about. An HSA is typically paired with a high-deductible insurance plan. In return for the high deductible, the insured enjoys a very low premium. The "high" part of the deductible is typically in the $2000-$5000 range. Everything up to the amount the policy holder pays for. If you start getting into health expenses above that, the insurance company pays for it all. This is more along the lines of catastrophic insurance.

Our will pay 80% for In-Network and 60% for Out-of-Network****, above the deductible ($2400 per family), with an annual out-of-pocket max of $10,000****. The company is only going to make a one-time contribution for new enrollments' HSA's. The insurance portion is self-funded by the company, and managed by UHC.


**** This whole out-of-network and $10K max has some major caveats. It is all based on "reasonable, and customary" expenses. Apparently UHC feels that "reasonable, and customary" is in-line with what Medicare will pay. There are individuals who have been using the HSA option for a while that are now facing major medical bills (upwards of $75,000), because UHC did not inform them of this caveat with out-of-network providers.



The biggest problem that I have with the situation is that they are not giving us any choice. Let me decide what the best health care option is for my family.
 
Our will pay 80% for In-Network and 60% for Out-of-Network****, above the deductible ($2400 per family), with an annual out-of-pocket max of $10,000****. The company is only going to make a one-time contribution for new enrollments' HSA's. The insurance portion is self-funded by the company, and managed by UHC.

Wow... that plan sucks!
 
What is the deductible for employee and then for employee+family? The HSA we have at Delta is $2300 for employee and $4500 for family. Next April is when our next kid is due to pop out so I ran the expense calculator on our benefits website. Surprisingly, the HSA was cheaper than the 90% PPO that only has a $500 deductible.

Total medical expenses next year for me under the HSA will be about $6000 and under the PPO would be $10,000. That includes all out of pocket expenses like premiums, copays and deductibles. I still think that the cost is atrocious but, it is what it is.

5k for single, 10k for family. My out of pocket used to be $2000. If you have cancer/surgery/major work done, it will take longer than a year to rehab it. How many regional pilots have an extra $20,000 for medical expenses in a two year span?
 
Your assuming that you won't have a catastrophic event for the first few years of the new coverage. What if two months into the plan you break your back? $5,000 automatically? Even though you've been paying preiums for years?
That assumption is risky. I'm pretty risky but when it comes to flying,driving, and my health, I don't make gambles.


It depends what we're talking about. An HSA is typically paired with a high-deductible insurance plan. In return for the high deductible, the insured enjoys a very low premium. The "high" part of the deductible is typically in the $2000-$5000 range. Everything up to the amount the policy holder pays for. If you start getting into health expenses above that, the insurance company pays for it all. This is more along the lines of catastrophic insurance.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic way to have insurance. It puts the control and responsibility of routine health care in the hands of the individual. It acts like real insurance does and protects the policy holder against things they can't afford (catastrophic events.) In the event of a catastrophic event, it protects the policy holder - under a normal plan you may have to pay 20% of the hospitalization, tests, and procedures. Under a high-deductible plan you are fully covered after you meet your deductible. No surprises - no unplanned expenses.

HSAs are your money. They money rolls over year to year. So, if you choose to keep funding it monthly and you're a healthy person the account grows substantially so that if you become an un-healthy person you have a healthy reserve available.
 
So Skywest just canceled their health coverage for all their employees? Is that what I'm reading?
 
Your assuming that you won't have a catastrophic event for the first few years of the new coverage. What if two months into the plan you break your back? $5,000 automatically? Even though you've been paying preiums for years?
That assumption is risky. I'm pretty risky but when it comes to flying,driving, and my health, I don't make gambles.

If in the first two months you break your back then you wouldn't have been paying premiums for years. ;)

It's not risky at all as long as you choose a deductible plan you can afford. Common sense dictates you keep a 3-6 month emergency fund available... probably should lean more on the 6 months side as a regional pilot. So let's pretend a regional pilot's salary is $30k... they should probably have $10k-$15k saved for emergencies. And that's the short term. Long term is you save an amount monthly to fund your HSA. A high deductible plan premium is much less than a traditional plan... saving the difference should work. And that's only if your company doesn't fund your HSA for you.

If the person has no emergency fund, then the HSA would be a poor choice until they build one up.

Bottom line though, it isn't a bad idea for someone to save for and manage their own health care. It's cheaper, gives you more power, and gives you more choices.
 
Back
Top