Flops raises health insurance 159%

[FLYLOW22]

Just curious-As Health Care expenses and in turn, costs to employees are going up across the country and across every industry, what protects the NJA pilots from seeing health care cost increases? Is it written into the contract that there are never to be increases? thx.

This thread is about FLOPS.

Health care as it relates to Unionized labor is a negotiated comodity. If rates go up then the payment of those rates (who pays and how much) is negotiated like any other benefit. Costs are not automatically passed on to the employees mid contract if certain language is built in to prohibit it.

Health care is screwed up even more than aviation.

 

[dash_trash]

Insurance for the family, without changing current coverage options, will go from approx. $142 a month to the mind blowing $470+/-

I agree 100% about making this the absolute SAFEST holiday season Options has ever experienced.

 

[FR8DOG777]

The best part

The best part about this whole increase is that Flops is self insured. Meaning that the increase in employ premiums goes directly to Flops. Is this how they are going to make a profit? I say lets make them get their money's worth. A few months ago Flops management put out a memo stating they can require you to provide a doctor's release in able to come back to work if you call off sick. I say lets all call off sick and go to the doctor a few times this holiday season to make sure we are healthy to fly since Flops is self insured they will be paying the bill. except for the copay. I think it is worth the copay to screw with Flops management. Remember this change isn't until next year so we have the remainder or the year to jack up their bills

 

[sweptwingz]

Wow...guys that's just plain horrible.
(Please note, I'm not being insulting or cute here.)

Perhaps, just perhaps, it's time to consider a union?

 

[jonjuan]

The best part about this whole increase is that Flops is self insured. Meaning that the increase in employ premiums goes directly to Flops.

How do you know this? How do we know you aren't making this up?

 

[FR8DOG777]

I know

I know Flops is self insured because I have had issues in the past with some medical bills being paid and had the hospital coming after me for collection. After consulting the HR department on what I could do about UHC not paying these bills I was told that actually Flops is self insured and UHC is the administrator for our insurance. HR department then told me to submit the invoice directly to them and they would insure they would be paid. A few weeks later it was paid in full. So if you need more proof I would suggest you call the HR manager and ask yourself.

 

[208starcheck]

I'm a little confused and slow on this subject so please humor me. This is more a question for the union law experts.

Since a union was voted in at FLOPS, IBT 1108, don't all current work rules/benefits remain status quo till a contract is voted in? Or is that only during the official union drive period?

 

[FR8DOG777]

No status quo

Below is a portion of a letter the FLOPS pilots received about our insurance from FLOPS FOLC.

Tuesday 10/10/07

This afternoon IBT 1108 Counsel Jon Wentz and I participated in a phone conference with Shirley Kauffmann, Flight Options V.P. of Human Resources, regarding the benefits changes that management will impose in the coming year. We were taken aback at the changes that management is preparing to impose on all the employees of the company. To put it simply, this is but another in a long list of documented slaps in our collective face. These changes are an outrageous example of senior management’s total contempt for their employees and why many of us chose to seek a Union for the pilots at Flight Options.

Union legal advisors are looking at any and all avenues that could stop management from imposing these changes on the pilots and hopefully the rest of Options employees. However, to be frank, there is probably little we can do at this time to stop management’s continued assault on us and our families absent a completed collective bargaining agreement.

To put this in an apples for apples context, I’m going to use the health benefits package I currently carry and how it compares with the proposed changes for the very same coverage. I currently pay $143 a month for medical coverage for my family. The current package has no deductible, a $15 co-pay and 80% pay outside of network. There are many other aspects of the plan, but these are the ones that carry a direct financial impact.

My current plan, Family, = self + spouse & children
Annual premium = $1,716, Co-pay = $15$ No Deductible. Total Cost $1,716 + Co-pay.

Below, management’s new benefits proposals are labeled Plan A, B and C; with Plan A being the best, Plan B offering the same coverage as currently exists for more cost, and Plan C offering the least amount of coverage.. My current benefits elections are identical to what management calls Plan A in their “new and improved” package, except for cost.

Plan A


Plan A can be selected to cover just the employee, or any combination of employee, spouse and children, adjusted accordingly for cost.

Plan A for Family = Self + Spouse & Children
Annual premium = $4,440, Co-pay = $15, No Deductible…Total cost $4,440 + Co-pay.

So for the same coverage I have at this time, management’s new

Plan A will cost me $2,724 more next year—that’s a whopping increase of 158.7%







​

 

[Chewbacca]

Wow...guys that's just plain horrible.
(Please note, I'm not being insulting or cute here.)

Perhaps, just perhaps, it's time to consider a union?

Keeping up with the news eh sparky!?

 

[Peter_Griffin]

It's not a big secret...

The best part about this whole increase is that Flops is self insured. Meaning that the increase in employ premiums goes directly to Flops.

How do you know this? How do we know you aren't making this up?

Most companies with more than 100 employees (and a lot of smaller ones) are self insured these days -- UHC, Aetna, Great West are usually just the administators (although all these companies still offer traditional insurance options as well). ALL the majors are self insured and I would bet my last dollar 90% of all fortune 500 companies are. When I was at Flex, I'm pretty sure we were there too. Newsweek or Time or the WSJ did a whole article on it a long time ago -- just remember the jist, not the whole thing.

FLOPS still has to turn over a hefty chunk of the premium over for the admin costs and I'm not sure how you would go about finding out what percentage goes to cover the pools health expenditures versus admin costs.

As for verifying whether or not FLOPS or any other company is self insured, just call your HR dept or the 800 number on your insurance card. It is usually not a big secret and if it is I'd be worried about why. I would think you'd have a legal right to know anyways.

Sorry FLOPS guys -- the new insurance situation blows tremendously. Quite shocking. I have never heard of worse.