No more health coverage for 10,000 airline employees

The company my dad works for has a similar setup, though they cover half of the employee's cost up to the $5k when the insurance kicks in. It seems to work pretty well for them.
 
I have a nine year old and four year old set of triplets. We max out usually around May - June. After that, everything is covered 100% The only problem with ours is that there is no copay, which seems to confuse the office workers.

Switch to Dr. Goza up at Fayette Medical clinic. Besides the fact that she is the best her office staff fully understand our insurance. I drive from Newnan so my daughter can see her. I'm slightly biased though because we are related.
 
Tell me more about this? Seriously.
I can't explain it well but the just of it is up to a certain cost we are covered at no expense to our pay checks, there is better coverage which you can pay for but I chose the free option.

Sucks for everyone else though. At least we're the only UAX carrier who doesn't have to pay $20 a segment on UA. I'd owe the airline thousands.
 
$2000 into an HSA? Would be a good deal if you never went to the doctor and could let it grow. With a wife that's on brain meds and sees her shrink ($150 a visit) every 3-4 months, that would add up pretty quickly. To put it in perspective, one hospital visit would likely wipe out that $2000. In one year, my wife had one and my son had two. The two for my son included a broken leg, a broken arm and all the follow ups. Without insurance, I'd have had to sell my house to pay for all of it.

Now, if I was a small business owner, I'd be all over an HSA for the tax benefits. If I'm working for someone else, they should either pay me more so I can buy my own insurance/contribute to the HSA or provide health care benefits. If they're switching you guys over to an HSA, I'd be demanding a pay raise to go with it. $2000 "buy out" is chump change compared to the huge amount of money they're gonna be saving.
 
If they're switching you guys over to an HSA, I'd be demanding a pay raise to go with it. $2000 "buy out" is chump change compared to the huge amount of money they're gonna be saving.

LOL, silly rabbit. Demands? SGU don't do demands! :)
 
One of the best things about Republic is our health care plan. In fact, its better than my wife's from her school.

I can't believe an Airline would cut its employees health insurance. Unbelievable.
 
Wouldn't it be great if there was an option to self-insure without spending a few thousand a month on coverage and not have to deal with the alphabet soup of figuring out company-based insurance? ;)

Oops! Wrong thread!
 
I'm not opposed to getting rid of the various hmo's, but there is no reason why they had to chop the ppo. The HSA could work but for how much the premiums are when factoring in the high deductables it's not that great of a deal. Like mrivc said, cancer or some illness could wipe you out as that doesn't go away after a few months. And it can happen to anyone, everybody ages.
 
Call me crazy but I foresee another ALPA drive at SKYW in the very near future.....

I doubt it. We spent a load of money on the last drive, and only a third of their pilots voted in favor. I can't imagine wasting the money again until they're practically begging for representation.
 
This is not happening til 2011 and while I would definitely like to see the PPO option stay, I’m not sure the sky is falling either.

For me the verdict is still out. I have a wife and kids and to be honest the current premiums sting just a bit so this does have some appeal to me. I have spoken with one captain with 3 kids, that has used the HSA for several years and he swears by it.

I use thefamily plan and by the time the year is over I will have paid over $3000 in premiums. (About $260 per month.) Plus various $20 and $30 dollar copays with each doctor visit.

Here is how I understand it so far. . . . .The HSA will cost me $108 / month in premiums and the company will pay $1000 into my HSA account each year for the next two years and then something each year after. If I contribute about $117 dollars more per month, pretax, to my HSA I can have enough to meet the deductible of $2400 per year before it goes to the 80/20 thing up to $6000 total. That would make my monthly premiums about $225, which is less than what I pay in premiums now. I could also roll the dice and just use the $1000 the company pays into the account and then use my own post tax dollars to pay expenses beyond that, if they occur. That would mean less $$$ deducted from each check. (Personally I think I will put some into the HSA if I do this, this year.)
The max out of pocket per year has been changed to $6000, so if anything catastrophic happens in my family that is the most I pay each year. (As I understand it.) However if we stay healthy then the money in the HSA rolls into the next year etc. etc.

Right now my biggest concern is the prescription drug program. (It seems to be a discount thing.) It goes toward the deductible, but beyond that I don’t know the details. That could be a real killer financially. That said, I have a brother who’s company has very good insurance. His wife had a heart transplant several years ago and despite having a decent prescription drug program, he still pays $400 to $500 a month in the many drugs she needs. And that is with a PPO not an HSA. My point there is even with really good insurance a big health event will most likely still set you back thousands each year.
 
This is not happening til 2011 and while I would definitely like to see the PPO option stay, I’m not sure the sky is falling either.

:yeahthat:

I don't think people realize how good our options have been up until this point. The PPO has been *really* good for me, and when I compare it to what family members and friends have, I understand how good a plan it is. That being said, I would have come out ahead the last couple of years using the HSA even considering a couple expensive tests. I don't like that the option is being taken away at all, but I'm not planning on switching providers or anything.

To say that there is "no more health coverage" is a little disingenuous, but I certainly understand the frustration of removing options.

Wouldn't it be great if there was an option to self-insure without spending a few thousand a month on coverage and not have to deal with the alphabet soup of figuring out company-based insurance?

Oops! Wrong thread!

Ha! Another reason I'm going to keep my PPO plan for at least another year, sit back, and see what happens with, uh, that whole thing.
 
I doubt it. We spent a load of money on the last drive, and only a third of their pilots voted in favor. I can't imagine wasting the money again until they're practically begging for representation.

But, but, but...Skywest mgmt. would never do anything to harm the pilot group.......
 
Guess you Skywest guys should have voted for that whole union thing.

You are preaching to the choir for most SkyW posters here I believe. Not sure about the lurker factor though :)

Hopefully ALPA doesn't give up on our group, as much as I have nearly given up on us - I still have hope.

I believe HSAs can be a good thing if constructed to be so, but there have been some valid questions raised about max lifetime benefit and some specific coverage issues with ours.

Other than Delta, any other companies out there contribute each year to HSAs?
 
If they switched us to this, someone would put a plane into HQ on Nonconnah. No, seriously, they probably would. I pay $150/mo in premiums for my whole family, $10 a dr visit, $5 for generic drugs and $10 for name brand drugs. Say what you want about PCL, but I think we've got some of the best health coverage around. Management does, too, which is why they tried to gut it during negotiations. It costs them a lot of money.
 
If they switched us to this, someone would put a plane into HQ on Nonconnah. No, seriously, they probably would. I pay $150/mo in premiums for my whole family, $10 a dr visit, $5 for generic drugs and $10 for name brand drugs. Say what you want about PCL, but I think we've got some of the best health coverage around. Management does, too, which is why they tried to gut it during negotiations. It costs them a lot of money.

That sounds like a very good health plan. Our existing plan/s are not as nice as what you guys have. Don't get me wrong, they are OK, but I think for many folks the HSA may be just as good, and possbily cheaper.
 
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