JetBlue to cancel traditional healthcare plans

[DougCorp-9]

I believe the company more or less has resolved themselves to the fact that we will unionize soon.

However, regarding health insurance, this country has the WORST health care SYSTEM of any industrialized nation. Period. Obama-care, contrary to standard RHETORIC, barely changed much within our SYSTEM, other than to add some protections and subsidies. The overall system, was mostly maintained due to political opposition and big money interests.

Our health care SYSTEM will continue to collapse under its own weight. The trajectory of costs and loss of coverages will continue as it has for decades to the point of unsustainability....

Anyone who is truly thoughtful and informed knows that our system of private insurance is the WORST in the industrialized world.

With the costs spiraling out of control in the U.S., virtually any company that can (non-union), will shed those costs. Which brings us back to jetBlue.

The weight that the system is collapsing under is the weight of all the FAT Sh!iTs in this country. All you have to do is sit in the terminal and people watch for 10 minutes to realize the problem. People in this country get out of breath on an escalator.

 

[waveflyer]

Doug-9
Smarta$$ has it-
It is a whole lot harder to stay in shape in this country bc of
-sugar lobbies
-corn lobbies
-processed foods replacing real food
-active jobs- manufacturing and farm going by the wayside-
We better wake up and start addressing issues systemically
--------
But w/o the thread creep- Its amazing that pilots vote to collectively bargain without a union

 

[scoreboardII]

I believe the company more or less has resolved themselves to the fact that we will unionize soon.

However, regarding health insurance, this country has the WORST health care SYSTEM of any industrialized nation. Period. Obama-care, contrary to standard RHETORIC, barely changed much within our SYSTEM, other than to add some protections and subsidies. The overall system, was mostly maintained due to political opposition and big money interests.

Our health care SYSTEM will continue to collapse under its own weight. The trajectory of costs and loss of coverages will continue as it has for decades to the point of unsustainability....

Anyone who is truly thoughtful and informed knows that our system of private insurance is the WORST in the industrialized world.

With the costs spiraling out of control in the U.S., virtually any company that can (non-union), will shed those costs. Which brings us back to jetBlue.

I'm informed, and inside the health industry in the US.

Your statement above is the most uninformed by anyone on this forum in years.

First, prove your statement, how is the US the worst?

Why are all these Canadians walking into our hospitals?

Who says "I think I'll go to Germany or the UK to have that heart transplant"? Thats right, nobody in their right mind.

You want cheap healthcare? You get what you pay for so if you want cheap, move to Thailand, of course, they'll let you sit on the sidewalk till you die.
Stop with the lies.

 

[waveflyer]

Who says "I think I'll go to Germany or the UK to have that heart transplant"? Thats right, nobody in their right mind.

Ok, not heart surgery. But do you think Kobe Bryant is cheap when it comes to his ankle and livelihood.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...ers-kobe-bryant-revisited-german-doctor-ankle

Sure you're "informed" Swapa brother?
The US is so corporate it's ridiculous- and political in all the bad ways.
This attitude of "WE'RE NUMBER 1!!" dumb patriotism is why the US has fallen so short of the rest of the world in recent decades.
We have to stop lying to ourselves about our level of greatness and get to work to re-establish ourselves. We can be #1- and we will- but not if we keep fooling ourselves(!)

 

[Fins Up]

Doug-9
Smarta$$ has it-
It is a whole lot harder to stay in shape in this country bc of
-sugar lobbies
-corn lobbies
-processed foods replacing real food
-active jobs- manufacturing and farm going by the wayside-
We better wake up and start addressing issues systemically
--------
But w/o the thread creep- Its amazing that pilots vote to collectively bargain without a union

We're fat because of "sugar lobbies"? Give me a break. How about saying no to that third doughnut, or practicing some parenting skills and making your kids drink milk or water instead of a 16 oz. Mountain Dew. Nobody's forcing these things into our mouths. We are not victims.

 

[Smarta$$]

I'm informed, and inside the health industry in the US.

Your statement above is the most uninformed by anyone on this forum in years.

First, prove your statement, how is the US the worst?

Why are all these Canadians walking into our hospitals?

Who says "I think I'll go to Germany or the UK to have that heart transplant"? Thats right, nobody in their right mind.

You want cheap healthcare? You get what you pay for so if you want cheap, move to Thailand, of course, they'll let you sit on the sidewalk till you die.
Stop with the lies.

No, you're not informed. At best, you're Heritage Foundation, Fox News informed... I don't have the time or the desire to prove someone like you wrong.

But I didn't say you couldn't get great care if you are lucky enough to afford it or have a nice union, executive or government job. I said our SYSTEM was terrible. That includes our laws, structure, access and the way we finance our system. Our outcomes and access to care are NOT justified by the costs. We are not getting good value for our money. We are being ripped off systematically.

You can be manipulated into a false sense of American superiority and puff your chest out at fluff pieces of "journalism" about how America has the best health care in the world by politicians and industry (often they are the same anyway). I will not. I prefer to approach things with an open mind, and not participate in "dumb patriotism" when it isn't deserved.

 

[BoilerUP]

There is no magic bullet for health care, folks. Insurance companies are easy to blame, but one HAS to consider the costs involved with actually providing care.

My wife is Type 1 diabetic; her prescription is 300 monthly test strips and the PPO copay is $30. A blood sugar test strip costs about $0.05 to manufacture, according to a family member who previously worked for a large diabetic care company. Retail cost of those test strips at a pharmacy or retailer is about $1 per strip. And hospitals charge insurance companies $8 for that same test strip.

But hospitals, even for-profit ones, aren't exactly rolling in cash reserves. Their negotiated rates with insurance companies (including Medicare/Medicaid) help cover the cost of indigent care.

Combine this with doctors wanting to run all sorts of expensive (and often unnecessary) tests/procedures and a society that has an unhealthy diet & lifestyle and you get double-digit increases in insurance premiums year after year.

Insurance costs & coverages are a symptom of the problem...not the root cause.

 

[FDJ2]

I believe the company more or less has resolved themselves to the fact that we will unionize soon.

However, regarding health insurance, this country has the WORST health care SYSTEM of any industrialized nation. Period. Obama-care, contrary to standard RHETORIC, barely changed much within our SYSTEM, other than to add some protections and subsidies. The overall system, was mostly maintained due to political opposition and big money interests.

Our health care SYSTEM will continue to collapse under its own weight. The trajectory of costs and loss of coverages will continue as it has for decades to the point of unsustainability....

Anyone who is truly thoughtful and informed knows that our system of private insurance is the WORST in the industrialized world.

With the costs spiraling out of control in the U.S., virtually any company that can (non-union), will shed those costs. Which brings us back to jetBlue.

+1. Well said!

 

[FDJ2]

I'm informed, and inside the health industry in the US.

Your statement above is the most uninformed by anyone on this forum in years.

First, prove your statement, how is the US the worst?

Wake up and smell the coffee. The US Healthcare system is sub par. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, not only did we lag the rest of the industrial world, we're falling further behind.

[FONT=&quot]Ranking 37th — Measuring the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System[/FONT]
Christopher J.L. Murray, M.D., D.Phil., and Julio Frenk, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
N Engl J Med 2010; 362:98-99January 14, 2010

“It is hard to ignore that in 2006, the United States was number 1 in terms of health care spending per capita but ranked 39th for infant mortality, 43rd for adult female mortality, 42nd for adult male mortality, and 36th for life expectancy.3 These facts have fueled a question now being discussed in academic circles, as well as by government and the public: Why do we spend so much to get so little?
Comparisons also reveal that the United States is falling farther behind each year.”

 

[StarChecker]

With the costs spiraling out of control in the U.S., virtually any company that can (non-union), will shed those costs. Which brings us back to jetBlue.

Which brings us back to JetBlue indeed...

With no negotiated health insurance premiums included in a CBA....we are an ATM machine for JetBlue. They need more money? No problem, they can just take it out of our pockets by shifting more cost onto the employee.

Once again, to the 1193, the answer is a CBA; a professionally negotiated CBA that includes health insurance premiums that are fixed and a known quantity for the duration of the CBA. JetBlue pilots have no idea what will happen to their health insurance every year because the company can now do ANYTHING they want. And guess what? THEY WILL. Just wait until next year....

But 1193 JetBlue pilots think this is way better than a CBA....