Types of loss of medical insurance and companies that offer it.

thehobbit

thehobbit

Well-Known Member
I'm curious what/where members here get their loss of medical insurance what companies offer it and what employers offer it? I've recently entered my 40s and I've known a couple of pilots my age who have lost their flight medicals and it's one of my top concerns with this profession.
 
ALPA offers a loss of medical insurance plan. It's a bit pricey as you get older but it has good coverage. One big issue with most loss of license plans is that they discriminate on your disability between own occupation or any occupation. Just because you lost your medical doesn't mean you can't work, depending on why you lost it, and many plans will only pay if you can't work at all.

Different CBA/PWAs have some form of LTD plan. Some are better than others. The plan here takes 10 years to fully vest (5% per year) and will pay 50% at max. You can stay on the plan as long as you can't hold a medical, and unlike most other plans it doesn't stop at age 65. There are offsets for and DB or 401K payments, but whatever is left continues to death. It takes 3 months from loss of medical to start the plan and we have no STD plan to cover the gap, so most guys trying to keep a few hundred hours of sick time.
 
Not sure where you work, but many unionized airlines offer Long Term Disability insurance through their company or union. Ours used to be through the company, but it wasn't that great. The union found a better program, so we cut a deal with the company to split the cost of the program between the pilots and the company (it's about a 3-1 split, so the pilots pay most of it). We pay out about 3-4% of each paycheck in premiums. Should you need to collect LTD, the program will essentially replace about 65% of your gross pay (in other words, your take-home pay is about the same).

As you can see, this program is NOT cheap. As a younger pilot, I used to complain about paying $2000 a year so that some old dude could enjoy his $300,000 boat while collecting LTD. However, the program has also been a lifesaver for younger pilots who have been off work due to illness or accident. One younger pilot was off about four years due to a near-fatal motorcycle accident.

Many LTD programs have a limit on "how long" you can collect LTD. The better programs are quite expensive.
 
If you’re at an ALPA carrier, I strongly encourage you take advantage of the LOL insurance they offer, even if the contractual disability plan is pretty good.

Most, if not all contractual disability plans’ benefits have some kind of earnings average. As a new hire, your pay is going to be relatively low and the disability benefit is going to be some fraction of that, so your benefit isn’t that great. Getting a supplemental plan, at least until you “age into” a better benefit makes good sense.

Most disability plans get spendy once you get over 40. I was on the ALPA plan until 40, and my annual premium doubled overnight. I wound up dropping it because my FAE on the contract plan was pretty good by that point.
 
Richman said:
Most disability plans get spendy once you get over 40. I was on the ALPA plan until 40, and my annual premium doubled overnight. I wound up dropping it because my FAE on the contract plan was pretty good by that point.
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This is a good point. I should probably do that math soon. Ironically we just got insurance check off from our paychecks last year, so I'm not writing a check to alpa every month for the first time in 16 years.
 
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Fearless said:
Not sure where you work, but many unionized airlines offer Long Term Disability insurance through their company or union. Ours used to be through the company, but it wasn't that great. The union found a better program, so we cut a deal with the company to split the cost of the program between the pilots and the company (it's about a 3-1 split, so the pilots pay most of it). We pay out about 3-4% of each paycheck in premiums. Should you need to collect LTD, the program will essentially replace about 65% of your gross pay (in other words, your take-home pay is about the same).

As you can see, this program is NOT cheap. As a younger pilot, I used to complain about paying $2000 a year so that some old dude could enjoy his $300,000 boat while collecting LTD. However, the program has also been a lifesaver for younger pilots who have been off work due to illness or accident. One younger pilot was off about four years due to a near-fatal motorcycle accident.

Many LTD programs have a limit on "how long" you can collect LTD. The better programs are quite expensive.
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Not at an airline yet, I just hit ATP mins, but the next job i go to loss of medical insurance is going to be up there as a deciding factor.
 
Harvey and watt. As mentioned above you have to look at how they classify disabled. Harvey and watt classify it as loss of FAA medical. Some programs only consider you disabled if you meet the social security disabled classification.


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I’ve seen a number of cases where young guys/gals, in their first year or two, pop a medical for something serious. Now they’re out of the game and even a great disability plan isn’t going to have time to accrue a livable benefit.

For you guys/gals getting on at the majors, please, please, please, be sure you participate in any supplemental plan than is offered until your main disability plan gets to the point where the benefit is livable. ALPA has a plan, and some carriers have their own plans. The cost is very nominal.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
There are a few legit medical co-ops, the largest is Christian-affiliated CHM. Better than nothing.
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Giggle. Read that as loss of medical insurance instead of insurance for loss of medical.

I've known a number of pilots that lost their medicals and continued to fly overseas. Heck, in the world of diplomatic aviation, some pilots don't have current certs, some never had civilian certs.

Saudia used to have a couple of pilots that flew domestic after getting DUI's back home. Saudia cargo also had some guys that aged out in the States. They also had a couple guys restricted to FO as they had medical issues.
 
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