Airtran Insurance question

[IdRtherBsailing]

Have there been any talks pertaining to your new contract in trying to improve your health care system? Just wondering.

 

[SkiFishFly]

I think everyone except the Company and the Negotiating committee want to see this improved...

 

[Thunderchief]

The TA only limits how much the company can increase the current premiums, no reduction at all for us...
I am in the HMO w a family and pay over 450 a month...ouch
-TC

 

[CitationLover]

The TA only limits how much the company can increase the current premiums, no reduction at all for us...
I am in the HMO w a family and pay over 450 a month...ouch
-TC

is the hmo a local one or a national hmo? if local, then if MKE becomes a new domicile they might have a new national provider with cheaper rates (or more expensive rates).

 

[j41driver]

National. The majority of our pilots do not live in the A-T-L.

 

[Citrusflyer]

The TA only limits how much the company can increase the current premiums, no reduction at all for us...
I am in the HMO w a family and pay over 450 a month...ouch
-TC

Read a little closer. The TA allows the company to raise (without limit) the copays one time during the duration of the contract.

So, pay over $450/month and then get much larger payments at the doc's office. What a deal.....

 

[CitationLover]

the NPA could always negotiate directly with a health provider to provide an alternate if you think costs are too much, its called group health insurance.

health costs everywhere are high.

 

[-9Capt]

the NPA could always negotiate directly with a health provider to provide an alternate if you think costs are too much, its called group health insurance.

.

That's been looked at.

 

[j41driver]

That's been looked at.

And......

 

[-9Capt]

It wasn't cost effective.

 

[tubelcane]

Why exactly is that? My last company had 1500 employees total. Our healthcare was similar to Airtran's and we payed 75 bucks per pay, copays were 15 bucks. This was in 2003 - 2005. I just don't get why I have to pay more than double that at a company with over 8000 employees. Someone please splain this to me!

 

[CitationLover]

Why exactly is that? My last company had 1500 employees total. Our healthcare was similar to Airtran's and we payed 75 bucks per pay, copays were 15 bucks. This was in 2003 - 2005. I just don't get why I have to pay more than double that at a company with over 8000 employees. Someone please splain this to me!

couple of theories

airline pilots have some of the highest morbidity rates around

health care costs increase at twice the rate of inflation

the air tran pilot group contains a poor combination of pre existing conditions, smokers, etc that the underwriters deemed risky

 

[ultrarunner]

Eventually, companies will start discriminating more against unhealthy employees.

OR, the heath-care providers will simply charge the unhealthy lot exorbitant premiums. When smokers and such start shelling out a couple grand a month for insurance, folks will start to re-evaluate their habits. After a decade or so we'll have a healthier work force and a healthier aging population.

 

[CitationLover]

After a decade or so we'll have a healthier work force and a healthier aging population.

just what we need more aging which leads to more pension losses and social security losses which leads to more health care as seniors need it more.

 

[wood pecker]

According to our NPA leader during a recurrent lunch, he stated that if the pilots had a different policy than the rates for the FAs, and everyone else would rise. The next person commented well then their union can fix their problem correct. Then AP commented well we actually have alot of pilots w/ prexisting conditions that would not be covered if we changed policies. Basically there was no solution but hey no more $25 jumpseat charge. Is there a limit to how many times you can sign the recall list? Anything new Lear70? What about instead of losing all 60 hours of emergency bank we negotiate only 30 hours?

 

[tubelcane]

My last company had over 1200 pilots well over 3/4 of the company. I just don't get it, I know healthcare has gotten out of hand, but we should be able to get much better, with 8000 + employees.

 

[IdRtherBsailing]

I know at my last company for the longest time we had awesome insurance. I paid 150/mo for family coverage. Then it was changed. Apparently the company was paying 85% and the pilots were paying 15%. It was changed to the company paying 75% and the pilots paying 25%. Just that little 10% jump doubled my monthly premiums. So when I left I was paying almost 300/mo for a family. From what it sounds like with AirTran, It sounds like the company is not footing much of the bill. The national average Believe is 75/25 Company/employee. It looks like your company is only covering 60-65%. I am not a Rocket Surgeon but I would think you could negotiate that a little better for all of you.

 

[CitationLover]

I know at my last company for the longest time we had awesome insurance. I paid 150/mo for family coverage. Then it was changed. Apparently the company was paying 85% and the pilots were paying 15%. It was changed to the company paying 75% and the pilots paying 25%. Just that little 10% jump doubled my monthly premiums. So when I left I was paying almost 300/mo for a family. From what it sounds like with AirTran, It sounds like the company is not footing much of the bill. The national average Believe is 75/25 Company/employee. It looks like your company is only covering 60-65%. I am not a Rocket Surgeon but I would think you could negotiate that a little better for all of you.

perhaps we could see the air tran plans. typically in network is 90/10 (or $20 copay) and out of network is 80/20 or 75/25 for an hmo.

 

[Steeler Fan]

Read a little closer. The TA allows the company to raise (without limit) the copays one time during the duration of the contract.

So, pay over $450/month and then get much larger payments at the doc's office. What a deal.....

In reference to your post on health coverage. I actually asked Allen to elaborate on this bullet point, then when I read the actual TA language, there was NOTHING there that supported this. In other words, if you think it's bad, it may actually be much worse!

Reference para 12.A.9 - of the actual TA (no, I'm not going to post it here).

The NPA has claimed that the Company can only increase CO-Pays ONCE for the duration of the contract. There is NO reference anywhere in the contract nor is there reference to a side letter referred to in the NPA Bullet Points which supports this claim.

What's really frustrating is the disconnect between what the NPA says this contract does versus what the language actually says. *The vast majority of us who been here awhile really want to see this place succeed long term, but not at the expense of the pilot group. *For newer AirTran pilots, and future AirTran pilots, I'm not alone in saying that we want you to have a job worth having here, with protections that will keep you from having an ulcer out of concern for "what happens if?".

Like I said before, I genuinely believe that AirTran can be a PHENOMENAL airline, and I think this contract can go a long way in helping all of us get there--but we're not there yet.

 

[Lear70]

Hey Steeler Fan, that line about the co-pays looks strangely familiar...

Sorry guys, don't get on the LCC side of the forum except maybe once a week,,,

NONE of what follows was garnered from my work with the NPA on the T.A., all of it is direct from NPA reps at either Piccadilly luncheons or the road shows:

To answer your questions:

No, there's nothing new. Recall petition has reached the required number and has been accepted and will be out for vote in 2-3 weeks.

The problem with the NPA getting their own insurance plan for the pilots is that they couldn't exclude certain pilots with pre-existing health problems or their family members that do.

In a 1700+ pilot pool, there is an almost 100% certainty that there are at least one or more Hepatitis-C or AIDS or cancer pilots or their immediate family members; the NPA can't exclude those people from a private insurance plan - they all pay dues.

The alternative I proposed was the "healthy AirTran Pilot's Club" (as a private club we could exclude people who didn't qualify and let them stay on company insurance). I looked into group rates (my wife's in the health insurance biz with a local hospital) and the rates weren't incredibly better. In fact, we only saved $50 a month on average and the co-pays and deductibles were all higher and almost averaged out in the end.

That's because the company is paying roughly 60% (supposedly) of our premiums. No, I don't know if we've been able to audit their books. Our premiums are high because we're supplementing the other work groups that have some of the above mentioned health problems or are very unhealthy (chain smokers or obese or drug users - it's not hard to figure out why). The company pays 60% of those higher premiums and comes up with a rate for us that's similarly high.

The company has a couple hot-button items, and this is one of them. I don't think we'll see them budge on it without forcing the issue.

And yes, the company can increase BOTH premiums AND copays more than once throughout the contract in the new T.A.