NWA insurance premiums?

[regionalcap]

What do you NWA guys currently pay in insurance premiums for a family plus dental?

 

[Klamath]

Married, 2 kids,

$299 medical
$19 dental

Might not be to the dollar, but it's close. Decent insurance through Blue Cross but my lobotomy wasn't covered.

 

[regionalcap]

Thanks for the info. I have heard some NWA guys saying that Delta had higher premiums. For the record, at Delta I am paying $222 a month for a family of four including dental.

 

[RP170]

Wow, that's pricey at both places. I thought the majors had better benefits than that? I guess nothing should be surprising though in today's Part 121 world.

 

[Airbus_Driver]

Delta DOES have higher premiums. For myself and spouse, at NWA I pay $180 a month and have to cover 25% of the premium. The same plan at Delta is $400 a month and I would have to cover 40% of the bill. The dental at Delta is also double what I pay at NWA.

Although the pay rates appear higher at Delta, looking at the math closely, its clearly not as lucrative as many are suggesting. I would argue if you have a large amount of medical bills in your family, it will be a net loss with this merger as far as your straight earnings are concerned.

 

[clippyrip]

Thanks for the info. I have heard some NWA guys saying that Delta had higher premiums. For the record, at Delta I am paying $222 a month for a family of four including dental.

I think the major difference is deductibles. In some instances NWA pilots can reduce their premium on the Delta plan but the deductibles go up.

 

[p3flteng]

Does Delta offer a buy out if you opt not to take the insurance, IE elect to have insurance thru your spouses plan?

NWA does not.

 

[regionalcap]

Delta DOES have higher premiums. For myself and spouse, at NWA I pay $180 a month and have to cover 25% of the premium. The same plan at Delta is $400 a month and I would have to cover 40% of the bill. The dental at Delta is also double what I pay at NWA.

Although the pay rates appear higher at Delta, looking at the math closely, its clearly not as lucrative as many are suggesting. I would argue if you have a large amount of medical bills in your family, it will be a net loss with this merger as far as your straight earnings are concerned.

I'm not sure where you are getting your figure of $400 a month. I'm telling you that I pay half that for full family coverage. You don't have to cover 40% of the bill either. I'm on the gold plan. It pays 100% of the bill through the first $1500. If you don't use $1500 then you can rollover to the next year. You might be referring to the pilot insurance in the contract. It is an expensive plan that most pilots do not use here. We have more options that are cheaper.

 

[tblosser]

Delta DOES have higher premiums. For myself and spouse, at NWA I pay $180 a month and have to cover 25% of the premium. The same plan at Delta is $400 a month and I would have to cover 40% of the bill. The dental at Delta is also double what I pay at NWA.

Although the pay rates appear higher at Delta, looking at the math closely, its clearly not as lucrative as many are suggesting. I would argue if you have a large amount of medical bills in your family, it will be a net loss with this merger as far as your straight earnings are concerned.

I pay 222 per month for Medical and Dental for a family of 4. That is the HRA Choice Plus which is one of 4 plans offered by Delta this year. There is also a plan that is provided in the Contract. I am not sure which plan your numbers are based. Under the plan I choose Delta pays the first 1500 dollars of your health costs leaving me responsible for 1500 until the deductible is met for the year for the family. After that I pay 20 percent of the discounted rate in network until I hit the out of pocket maximum for the year. Which is 2500 per individual or 5000 per family in network The Company also offers a flexible spending account to allow you to use pre tax money pay for the costs. Overall it is not a bad plan.

 

[Muskycat]

I pay 222 per month for Medical and Dental for a family of 4. That is the HRA Choice Plus which is one of 4 plans offered by Delta this year. There is also a plan that is provided in the Contract. I am not sure which plan your numbers are based. Under the plan I choose Delta pays the first 1500 dollars of your health costs leaving me responsible for 1500 until the deductible is met for the year for the family. After that I pay 20 percent of the discounted rate in network until I hit the out of pocket maximum for the year. Which is 2500 per individual or 5000 per family in network The Company also offers a flexible spending account to allow you to use pre tax money pay for the costs. Overall it is not a bad plan.

Thinking that guy is looking at the old DPMP or whatever plan it is/was. It's being phased out and if you want it, it's really expensive. There is no cost advantage of going with the old plan and the coverage is less.

 

[Airbus_Driver]

I'm not sure where you are getting your figure of $400 a month. I'm telling you that I pay half that for full family coverage. You don't have to cover 40% of the bill either. I'm on the gold plan. It pays 100% of the bill through the first $1500. If you don't use $1500 then you can rollover to the next year. You might be referring to the pilot insurance in the contract. It is an expensive plan that most pilots do not use here. We have more options that are cheaper.

I got the figure from NWA ALPA in a memo dated July 7, 2008 explaining the Medical/Dental Plans at Delta. The $400 is from a medical option called DPMP (Delta Pilots Medical Plan) for Employee + Spouse. Which is the closest thing to what NWA currently has. Including low deductables and in-and-out of network provisions. Indeed, a Delta pilot does pay 40% of the premium under this plan compared to NWA's 25%.

Compare the following Chart:

2008 Active Employee Monthly Contributions
Premiums under the JCBA (Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement)

Employee Only
Employee + Spouse
Employee + Child
Employee + Family Medical Options
DPMP (network)
$182.00
$401.00
$315.00
$533.00
Gold HRA
$67.00
$145.00
$114.00
$191.00
Silver HRA
$26.00
$55.00
$43.00
$71.00
HSA
$41.00
$88.00
$69.00
$115.00
Health Plan Hawaii
$116.00
$255.20
$197.20
$336.00

Dental Options
Preventive
$ 3.00
$ 4.00
$ 6.00
$ 7.00
Comprehensive
$12.00
$20.00
$22.00
$31.00
DPMP Comprehensive
$16.00
$33.00
$37.00
$53.00
CIGNA Dental Care
$ 5.00
$10.00
$10.00
$15.00

Vision Option
Davis Vision
$ 6.44
$11.60
$12.24
$19.32

2008 NWA Premiums
Employee Only
Employee + Spouse
Employee + Child
Employee + Family
NWA BCBS
$90.66
$195.70
$154.72
$295.02

NWA Dental
$7.76
$14.98
$17.12
$23.76

The other plans listed in the DAL chart have lower premiums, but they have lesser coverage and/or higher deductibles and max out of pocket costs.

Any way you slice it, NWA's Blue Cross/Blue Shield Plans are more affordable, have greater coverage and lower deductibles.

 

[Bluto]

Nobody in my newhire class elected to use that outdated plan. In fact, the benefits representative told us that it was only around for a handful of pilots throughout the entire company. It's too bad the NWA MEC is still supplying divisive information.

If this is the information your MEC is giving you, they are either purposefully misdirecting their membership or are incompetent when it comes to finding information that should have been readily available. Either way, I'd be concerned about the information you receive from your MEC.

 

[DTW320]

It's too bad the NWA MEC is still supplying divisive information.

If this is the information your MEC is giving you, they are either purposefully misdirecting their membership or are incompetent when it comes to finding information that should have been readily available. Either way, I'd be concerned about the information you receive from your MEC.

Chill out. The NWA MEC is NOT "supplying divisive information". On the merger website it talks about the other plans available at DAL and shows the premiums for those. It makes the comment that those plans offer less coverage and higher deductibles than the current NWA plan. The thing that it does NOT discuss is the role of the HRA accounts and the money that DAL puts into that for you. These are new concepts to the NWA group as we have never functioned that way. My read of your own DAL info packets from your last open enrollment seems to indicate that the $ that DAL puts into the HRA account for you, that gets used first to pay for expenses, makes the high deductibles much less of a big deal. You have to admit it is a bit confusing....I have yet to get a straight explanation from the DAL pilots I know which indicates that it is somewhat confusing to your group as well.

 

[regionalcap]

Chill out. The NWA MEC is NOT "supplying divisive information". On the merger website it talks about the other plans available at DAL and shows the premiums for those. It makes the comment that those plans offer less coverage and higher deductibles than the current NWA plan. The thing that it does NOT discuss is the role of the HRA accounts and the money that DAL puts into that for you. These are new concepts to the NWA group as we have never functioned that way. My read of your own DAL info packets from your last open enrollment seems to indicate that the $ that DAL puts into the HRA account for you, that gets used first to pay for expenses, makes the high deductibles much less of a big deal. You have to admit it is a bit confusing....I have yet to get a straight explanation from the DAL pilots I know which indicates that it is somewhat confusing to your group as well.

You have the jist of it for the HRA. I have yet to pay for a medical bill this year because it comes from the company's contribution first. It is also nice to not have a copay.

 

[QOL_is_great:)]

Ouch!!

Married, 2 kids,

$299 medical
$19 dental

Might not be to the dollar, but it's close. Decent insurance through Blue Cross but my lobotomy wasn't covered.

Now that is sticker shock! Sure am happy the amount I pay ($0.00) per month for medical, dental and vision. I sure feel for you guys having to pay any $$ for your coverage and then worry about your job.
Hang tough!!

 

[Bluto]

QOLisgreat,
Yeah, we get it: Netjets is superior and all the passenger carriers are pathetic in comparison. Thank you for the reminder.

DTW320,
sorry for overreacting. You're right, our plans are confusing and to be honest, I didn't understand my HRA until I started actually using it. I jumped to conclusions and posted before reading the previous post carefully. My apologies for the emotional escalation.