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jetBlue benefits
- Thread starter bandit317
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#1 Windmilling
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Freddie Spencer
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JB Bus Drvr
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Nice professional reply there Freddie.
As to the health benefits, There is a $200 per pay period cost for family coverage. The coverage is the first $500 is deductable then it's a 10% copay after that. If you can get a better plan with your spouse, go for it. Just like any other company, our health care costs have gone through the roof. Dental is still pretty cheap at about $57/mo. for family coverage. Any other questions. PM me.
As to the health benefits, There is a $200 per pay period cost for family coverage. The coverage is the first $500 is deductable then it's a 10% copay after that. If you can get a better plan with your spouse, go for it. Just like any other company, our health care costs have gone through the roof. Dental is still pretty cheap at about $57/mo. for family coverage. Any other questions. PM me.
Check around
320Driver, check around, I don't know af ANYONE who hasn't had their health care benefits reduced in the last few years. Every business is feeling the hit from the ridiculous inflation of heathcare costs.
I have friends who used to have $2 prescription copay and zero deductable on all else who are paying $15 on Generic drugs and $50 on others, and have a $1500 deductable per year!!!
Bandit 317, I'm sorry, but I'm not really sure about the costs, but if I read my pay stub right, it is about $200/mo for single coverage, there is a max per year of out of pocket, and there is a deductable on prescripts.
I really don't pay much attention to these costs since I figure if I need to go to the Doc, I'm gonna go no matter how much it costs. If I need major medical, I have it. Obviously for a guy with kids/family there is a much greater concern about the costs/fees.
And Freddie Sphincter, we get hepatitus shots to protect us from people like you.
I hope this helps, B6guy
320Driver, check around, I don't know af ANYONE who hasn't had their health care benefits reduced in the last few years. Every business is feeling the hit from the ridiculous inflation of heathcare costs.
I have friends who used to have $2 prescription copay and zero deductable on all else who are paying $15 on Generic drugs and $50 on others, and have a $1500 deductable per year!!!
Bandit 317, I'm sorry, but I'm not really sure about the costs, but if I read my pay stub right, it is about $200/mo for single coverage, there is a max per year of out of pocket, and there is a deductable on prescripts.
I really don't pay much attention to these costs since I figure if I need to go to the Doc, I'm gonna go no matter how much it costs. If I need major medical, I have it. Obviously for a guy with kids/family there is a much greater concern about the costs/fees.
And Freddie Sphincter, we get hepatitus shots to protect us from people like you.
I hope this helps, B6guy
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B6Busdriver
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Longhorn
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It also depends on the plan you select. I selected coverage for my wife and I on the alternate coverage which is a higher deductable and they only cover 70% instead of 90 %. My wife and I do not get sick that much so we went with the higher insurance cost vs. the out of pocket cost per check. (Ironicly, I have a head cold now!) I pay 62.74 per paycheck but all we have is health and dental, no vision or supp life or any of the other stuff.
KC-10 Driver
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There is a formula that you go through on the Sched A (itemized deductions) to calculate if you can deduct medical expenses. Your total medical expenses have to be above a certain percentage of your income before you can deduct them (I hope I explained that properly -- I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong).
I would pay about $200 per month for medical (for a family of 5), if I didn't get my health insurance elsewhere. It is expensive compared to my last company. But, like a previous poster wrote, health care costs are rising everywhere.
There is a choice of two different providers (United Healthcare or Blue Cross/Blue Shield), and a choice of plans with options for lower/higher premiums vs. higher/lower out of pocket costs.
The dental plan is a pretty good deal. Also, there is vision coverage, as well as medical savings plans. That's the quick basics.
No hepatitis shots for JetBlue -- although the Air Force makes me get one periodically.
I would pay about $200 per month for medical (for a family of 5), if I didn't get my health insurance elsewhere. It is expensive compared to my last company. But, like a previous poster wrote, health care costs are rising everywhere.
There is a choice of two different providers (United Healthcare or Blue Cross/Blue Shield), and a choice of plans with options for lower/higher premiums vs. higher/lower out of pocket costs.
The dental plan is a pretty good deal. Also, there is vision coverage, as well as medical savings plans. That's the quick basics.
No hepatitis shots for JetBlue -- although the Air Force makes me get one periodically.
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I pay $236/month for full coverage for myself and my family on the United Healthcare PPO. I think you have to meet a $250 deductable for "in-network" coverage before the co-insurance starts...you pay 10%, they pay 90%. For out of network doctors, I believe it's a $500 deductable, and then 70/30% coverage. There's some other details that I'm not totally sure of (that don't fall into the above description); certain things pay at 100% without the need to meet the deductable - well baby visits, annual physicals, etc...
What I find interesting is that JetBlue is "self-insured", meaning they pay out for the claims - BlueCross and United Healthcare only manage the accounts. I would think that by now we're large enough to shop around for a good group plan??
There's also talk of going to a health savings account next year. I'm pretty leary about that...
What I find interesting is that JetBlue is "self-insured", meaning they pay out for the claims - BlueCross and United Healthcare only manage the accounts. I would think that by now we're large enough to shop around for a good group plan??
There's also talk of going to a health savings account next year. I'm pretty leary about that...
#1 Windmilling said:
Contrary to some of the posts above, you CANNOT deduct these type of insurance costs on your schedule A. I am not an accountant, but I pay a CPA quite a bit each year. Last week I asked him this exact question. The response was that if your company has a Cafeteria Plan (which jetBlue most certainly does), then your premiums are already being paid with pre tax dollars. Essentially you would be double dipping if you included these insurance costs in your medical expense; and the IRS will not be happy.
You can deduct medical expenses like copays, co-insurance, prescriptions etc. But as mentioned above there is a 7.5% hurdle that must be met in order to receive a tax benefit.
BD
Disclaimer: Individuals should seek their own professional financial advice from a qualified Certified Public Accountant, not from annonymous internet message boards.
Splert
PoipuBayResort15thTBox
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Ben Dover said:
Your CPA has it wrong.
Your major medical plan or the group health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield or United Health Care are not section 125 Cafeteria Plans. The cost share or your monthly premium is deductible (subject to the threshold described above).
If you don't believe this annonymous internet message board poster then look at your paycheck stub.
Section 125 plans are pre-tax, that is true. Section 125 plans are like AFLAC (Duck) and pre-paying for out-of-pocket expensives like eye glasses or deductibles, etc. (use it or lose) or child care and other qualified expenses.
Sounds like you are over paying your CPA
.Splert...
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Splert,
I am not a CPA nor am I a Benefits Manager. But if you read from the IRS website it will tell you that:
"Code section 125 makes it possible for employers to offer their employees a choice between cash salary and a variety of nontaxable benefits (qualified benefits).
A qualified benefit is a benefit that does not defer compensation and which is excludable from an employee’s gross income under a specific provision of the Code, without being subject to the principles of constructive receipt. Qualified benefits include health care, vision and dental care, group-term life insurance, disability, adoption assistance and certain other benefits. See Sections 125(a), 125(f), 79, 105, 106, 129 and 137 of the Code.
Employers may also offer flexible spending accounts to employees under a cafeteria plan that provides coverage under which specified, incurred expenses may be reimbursed. These include health flexible spending accounts for expenses not reimbursed under any other health plan and dependent care assistance programs.
Employer contributions to the cafeteria plan are usually made pursuant to salary reduction agreements between the employer and the employee in which the employee agrees to contribute a portion of his or her salary on a pre-tax basis to pay for the qualified benefits. Salary reduction contributions are not actually or constructively received by the participant. Therefore, those contributions are not considered wages for federal income tax purposes. In addition, those sums generally are not subject to FICA and FUTA. See Sections 3121(a)(5)(G) and 3306(b)(5)(G) of the Code."
I don't know what your employer does. But I know that MY employer deducts my portion of health insurance pre tax. This means I cannot included it as a medical expense on my 1040.
BD
I am not a CPA nor am I a Benefits Manager. But if you read from the IRS website it will tell you that:
"Code section 125 makes it possible for employers to offer their employees a choice between cash salary and a variety of nontaxable benefits (qualified benefits).
A qualified benefit is a benefit that does not defer compensation and which is excludable from an employee’s gross income under a specific provision of the Code, without being subject to the principles of constructive receipt. Qualified benefits include health care, vision and dental care, group-term life insurance, disability, adoption assistance and certain other benefits. See Sections 125(a), 125(f), 79, 105, 106, 129 and 137 of the Code.
Employers may also offer flexible spending accounts to employees under a cafeteria plan that provides coverage under which specified, incurred expenses may be reimbursed. These include health flexible spending accounts for expenses not reimbursed under any other health plan and dependent care assistance programs.
Employer contributions to the cafeteria plan are usually made pursuant to salary reduction agreements between the employer and the employee in which the employee agrees to contribute a portion of his or her salary on a pre-tax basis to pay for the qualified benefits. Salary reduction contributions are not actually or constructively received by the participant. Therefore, those contributions are not considered wages for federal income tax purposes. In addition, those sums generally are not subject to FICA and FUTA. See Sections 3121(a)(5)(G) and 3306(b)(5)(G) of the Code."
I don't know what your employer does. But I know that MY employer deducts my portion of health insurance pre tax. This means I cannot included it as a medical expense on my 1040.
BD
lostplnetairman
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HR Diva weighing in here:
Plans covered under Section 125 of the IRC are qualified plans in that they offer benefits that qualify for tax breaks. Plan designs can vary. They include Premium Only Plans in which the employer just offers group health insurance on a pre-tax basis. They also include other plans such as medical Flexible Spending Accounts, Dependant Care Spending Accounts (DCAPS), etc. You sign a salary reduction agreement and that amount is deducted pre-tax to pay for the elections you have made. You cannot change those elections unless there is a qualifying event. In offering a qualified plan, the employer cannot discriminate against certain classes of employees (those NOT defined as Highly Compensated Employees cannot be discriminated against in favor of HCE's). It has to conduct annual non-discrimination testing to prove the integrity of the plan. These plans are subject to ERISA disclosure and reporting requirements. The plan must disclose the rules to you in the form of a Summary Plan Description. Significant changes to the plan must be disclosed to you in the form of a Summary of Material Modifications. The plan needs to report each year to the IRS via a 5500 tax filing (smaller plans are exempt).
And employer can also choose to offer enrollment in the group health plan on a post-tax basis as a choice for employees. And employee can choose to do that if they don't want to be bound by the need to have a qualifying event in order to make a change in their enrollment elections. Post-tax benefits are not subject to non-discrimination testing. So, if an employer has a non-qualified plan and wants to pay 100% of the cost for its executives and nothing for the line staff, it can.
If an employee enrolls in the group health plan on a pre-tax basis, then the cost of the premiums are not tax deductible on their personal income tax because that would be double dipping.
Actually many larger companies are self-insured. Many smaller companies and start-up companies cannot get fully insured plans and so they have to go the self-insured route. Some companies prefer fully insured plans because it is easier to budget a fixed monthly premium than to manage varying claims costs. But a larger company could actually save a lot of money by going the self-insured route because they are keeping the profit the insurance company makes. Instead they pay for an administrator and for stop-loss insurance which covers the larger claims beyond a certain threshold. That is usually far less expensive than paying the premiums of a fully insured plan.
But many companies have a hard time transitioning from self-insured to fully insured plans. If you do that you have to, for example, begin paying the insurance company premiums on January 1. But you also have to keep paying claims from a run off on the fully insured plan for as long as 18 months (and some stragglers take longer). And you have to keep paying the administrator and pay for a decreasing exposure in stop-loss during the run off period. So it's really hard on cash flow to switch plan arrangements.
While I don't have any connection to JetBlue, I did answer questions from JetBlue spouses during open enrollment. It appears that they offer a consumer driven health plan among the choices, but it's been six months so I'm not in total recall mode.
It is definately true that the cost of health benefits is increasing rapidly. The days of low cost insurance are gone. Keep healthy!
Diva
Plans covered under Section 125 of the IRC are qualified plans in that they offer benefits that qualify for tax breaks. Plan designs can vary. They include Premium Only Plans in which the employer just offers group health insurance on a pre-tax basis. They also include other plans such as medical Flexible Spending Accounts, Dependant Care Spending Accounts (DCAPS), etc. You sign a salary reduction agreement and that amount is deducted pre-tax to pay for the elections you have made. You cannot change those elections unless there is a qualifying event. In offering a qualified plan, the employer cannot discriminate against certain classes of employees (those NOT defined as Highly Compensated Employees cannot be discriminated against in favor of HCE's). It has to conduct annual non-discrimination testing to prove the integrity of the plan. These plans are subject to ERISA disclosure and reporting requirements. The plan must disclose the rules to you in the form of a Summary Plan Description. Significant changes to the plan must be disclosed to you in the form of a Summary of Material Modifications. The plan needs to report each year to the IRS via a 5500 tax filing (smaller plans are exempt).
And employer can also choose to offer enrollment in the group health plan on a post-tax basis as a choice for employees. And employee can choose to do that if they don't want to be bound by the need to have a qualifying event in order to make a change in their enrollment elections. Post-tax benefits are not subject to non-discrimination testing. So, if an employer has a non-qualified plan and wants to pay 100% of the cost for its executives and nothing for the line staff, it can.
If an employee enrolls in the group health plan on a pre-tax basis, then the cost of the premiums are not tax deductible on their personal income tax because that would be double dipping.
Actually many larger companies are self-insured. Many smaller companies and start-up companies cannot get fully insured plans and so they have to go the self-insured route. Some companies prefer fully insured plans because it is easier to budget a fixed monthly premium than to manage varying claims costs. But a larger company could actually save a lot of money by going the self-insured route because they are keeping the profit the insurance company makes. Instead they pay for an administrator and for stop-loss insurance which covers the larger claims beyond a certain threshold. That is usually far less expensive than paying the premiums of a fully insured plan.
But many companies have a hard time transitioning from self-insured to fully insured plans. If you do that you have to, for example, begin paying the insurance company premiums on January 1. But you also have to keep paying claims from a run off on the fully insured plan for as long as 18 months (and some stragglers take longer). And you have to keep paying the administrator and pay for a decreasing exposure in stop-loss during the run off period. So it's really hard on cash flow to switch plan arrangements.
While I don't have any connection to JetBlue, I did answer questions from JetBlue spouses during open enrollment. It appears that they offer a consumer driven health plan among the choices, but it's been six months so I'm not in total recall mode.
It is definately true that the cost of health benefits is increasing rapidly. The days of low cost insurance are gone. Keep healthy!
Diva
bandit317 said:
you should definitely stay where you are at if you are going to save some money on your health insurance. another bonus: you won't have to clean a/c either!! there is no way jetblue will be able to compete with the regionals either when the emb comes online, and analysts predict the regionals will devour jetblue at that time. the 50-70 seaters at the regionals will go out full and the 100 seater at JB will be ringing bells outside department stores for pax! also, with the growth that is about to happen in the next five years (230 plus a/c) nobody would want to put up with that sort of "career suspense." one might keep wondering...will i get furloughed??????????????
stick to the safe route!
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