Your Health Insurance Future
So, you think that retirement is too far away to be concerned with…think again. It’s never too early to prepare yourself and your family for the surprises and expenses that are in store. Think about one of the many unknowns that you will face, like the cost of health insurance for you and your spouse after retirement. Prior to the bankruptcy, our retirees enjoyed the same health insurance benefits they were accustomed to as active employees. The airline, through the bankruptcy judge, stole that health insurance from all of us, our current retired members and every active member looking forward to retirement. After this happened, Frank Schifano started and I continue the mission of finding and managing affordable health insurance policies for current and future retirees who are Social Security eligible or 65 years old. We were the only IAM Local in the US Airways system that took this action for their retirees. Today, I am the administrator of six plans with three health insurance companies. The Advantage Health Insurance Policy: What is it and why will you need one? When you reach the age of 65 and "you’re not still working", you are required to sign up for Medicare and a supplementor Advantage Plan to serve as administrator. Our local offers three group plans with the three major insurance companies in Pittsburgh for our retirees. Those companies are: Health America, Highmark Blue Cross, and UPMC, each offering a high and low option to choose from for Medicare eligible members. When talking about advantage plans, the one single item driving their price is the need for prescription drugs or scripts. Consider reaching age 65, you’re taking a number of the more costly scripts and you need a plan that gives full coverage throughout the dreaded "donut hole." Almost 90 retirees of the close to 800 we have under contract require a large number of scripts and thus have to take the high option plan. The Advantra plan from Health America offers that luxury at a price. What will these plans cost you? First of all, unless you get into a group plan like our local offers, you probably won’t be able to get full prescription coverage at any price. This is not to say that less expensive options aren’t available. But if you and your spouse both require this much coverage, each of you will be paying a monthly insurance premium of $335. Medicare coverage is currently $90 each per month. This puts your combined monthly premium at $850. Other group insurance plans available with our Local offer partial script coverage and some cost relief under the "current" government health care plan for drug reimbursements from the pharmaceutical companies. These plans cost as little as $184 + the $90 Medicare coverage or $274 each. This puts your combined monthly premium at $548. Now if you are fortunate enough to move into your Medicare years healthy and prescription drug free, there are alternatives to the above plans. There are "street" plans that are substantially less with little or no script coverage. Also available to "Vets" that qualify for the government’s VA drug plan, are alternative coverage plans with just the medical portion. When needed, there is a significant advantage to getting your coverage with a group plan versus going it alone. Keep in mind that the future of the American health care system lies almost entirely with our government. Costs and benefits will be driven by the decisions made in Congress.
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