Pilots and obomacare

[paid4training]

If 75 hrs a month is the quarantee hrs monthly, does that mean the companies can cancel exsisting health coverage and throw everyone into that Gawd awful exchange?

 

[johnsonrod]

If 75 hrs a month is the quarantee hrs monthly, does that mean the companies can cancel exsisting health coverage and throw everyone into that Gawd awful exchange?

What do you mean? Obama says it is wonderful! And since many pilots voted for him, everything should be OK...

God bless!

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Who knows, I am based in SFO and get free basic health care, have had it for the last 5+ years! it's the exact same plan that I had in other domiciles except its free. It's the best benefit SKYW provides, thanks San Francisco!

 

[ackattacker]

Before "Oboma Care" (sic) they could just cancel your insurance anyway since there was no requirement that employers provide health insurance for anybody. They did it because employees demanded/negotiated it. That hasn't changed.

That said, my understanding of the ACA definition of full time is working an average of 30 hours or more per week. It doesn't matter how you are paid, hourly, salary, commission, etc. Per this definition, it is duty time that matters and almost all airline pilots would be considered full time.

 

[General Lee]

Who knows, I am based in SFO and get free basic health care, have had it for the last 5+ years! it's the exact same plan that I had in other domiciles except its free. It's the best benefit SKYW provides, thanks San Francisco!

Does Uncle Stan live in SFO too? I knew it!


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[wmuflyguy]

If 75 hrs a month is the quarantee hrs monthly, does that mean the companies can cancel exsisting health coverage and throw everyone into that Gawd awful exchange?

What does your contract say? If it says nothing or you do not have a contract, prior to the ACA they could have dumped you into the "free market" anyway. Why would they start now?

 

[Northern Lights]

Somehow as a regional FO with a school teacher wife, we would make too much to receive a subsidy. According to my state exchange's web site we would have to Pay about $885/month for a "silver" plan, not including a high deductible. Not sure how we could afford what is essentially another mortgage payment on top of what we already pay for everything else.

 

[CesnaCaptn]

Somehow as a regional FO with a school teacher wife, we would make too much to receive a subsidy. According to my state exchange's web site we would have to Pay about $885/month for a "silver" plan, not including a high deductible. Not sure how we could afford what is essentially another mortgage payment on top of what we already pay for everything else.

Do you actually have to make "what is essentially another mortgage payment," or are you just writing hypothetically? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your airline provides you with health insurance and your spouse's school district offers her health insurance. If you're lucky, you can choose the better of the two or own double coverage.

I'm trying to figure out what your post adds to this conversation.

 

[Northern Lights]

My mortgage is $920/month. If I had to go on the exchange I would be paying another $885/month plus deductible, so yes, it would be about the same as a second mortgage payment. Already paying nearly $1000/month for daycare, so those paychecks get eaten up quickly. I'm glad that I don't have to be on the exchange, but calling it the "Affordable Care Act" is laughable.

Since the ACA went in to effect our own insurance has gotten way more expensive. We used to hardly pay anything ($59 per month for family). Now it is well in excess of that with much higher out of pocket maximums per year.

 

[CesnaCaptn]

My mortgage is $920/month. If I had to go on the exchange I would be paying another $885/month plus deductible, so yes, it would be about the same as a second mortgage payment. Already paying nearly $1000/month for daycare, so those paychecks get eaten up quickly. I'm glad that I don't have to be on the exchange, but calling it the "Affordable Care Act" is laughable.

Since the ACA went in to effect our own insurance has gotten way more expensive. We used to hardly pay anything ($59 per month for family). Now it is well in excess of that with much higher out of pocket maximums per year.

I was hesitant to respond to this. I'm not a fan of making political posts on an aviation board, but let me provoke some thought and ask a few questions.

May I suggest correlation does not imply causation. Unfortunately, we will never know what the alternative universe without the ACA would look like.

Are you certain that your healthcare premiums would not have risen without the ACA? I'm sorry that your premiums have risen "well in excess" of the $59 you used to pay. You really don't have solid proof for why your premiums have risen. I would consider that $59 premium an extremely generous benefit that was likely negotiated by a union. I'm willing to bet that management came to the union and said, "we can't afford to offer such generous benefits anymore. Look at all of these other government entities/private businesses that make their employees pay a much greater share of their healthcare premium."

Managements have always used current events to lower their costs, thus yours and my compensation. Remember that gem about UPS dropping spousal coverage? They said, "we believe your spouse should be covered by their own employer -- just as UPS has a responsibility to offer coverage to you, our employee." UPS used the ACA as an excuse to drop the spousal coverage. We have no way of knowing if that cut wasn't coming anyway (notice that it only affected nonunion employees). In order to "stay competitive" UPS managers were looking to cut costs. This was a softy--spouses still have coverage through their own company and UPS gets to lower its costs. I'm not aware if my company has ever offered spousal coverage. See, UPS was just dropping their benefit to "remain competitive." All of the legacies came to their pilots during BK over the last decade and said, "these pensions are killing us. In order to remain competitive, we need to lower your retirement benefit to (name your competitor of choice--SWA, B6, etc.)." During our next round of negotiations, management is sure to come to us and ask for some work rule change to increase our productivity and remain competitive with (name the current airline who is lowering the bar). And the cycle continues.

You wrote, "According to my state exchange's web site we would have to Pay about $885/month for a "silver" plan, not including a high deductible." Have you shopped for private insurance in years past? How much have plans comparable to today's silver plan cost in years leading up to the enactment of the ACA? This is the data point I would be most interested.

My CBA requires us to pay 20% of the airline's cost for health benefits. I have not seen a significant rise over years past.