Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
02-06-2012, 06:24 AM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,242
02-06-2012, 06:30 AM
Line Holder
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: A320B
Posts: 30
That's why we need to improve retieree's medical benefits.
Disclosure: I'm Junior
Disclosure: I'm Junior
02-06-2012, 06:31 AM
Runs with scissors
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Position: Going to hell in a bucket, but enjoying the ride .
Posts: 7,730
Sorry to hear Hockey....Never fun making those calls in the middle of the night. I've found that the nurse line always suggests going to the hospital...I'm sure it's to cover their arses. My daughter has croup and we now just handle it @ home. We are also Gold and I thought there was an "emergency" clause that covered ER visits..if not then HOLY CRAP...WTH? Please shoot me a PM when you get this all sorted out, it'd be good to know how to deal w/ these crooks! Good luck, hope the little one is feeling better!
Baja.
Baja.
Then I got a bill for over $2,500, for the ER, the Xrays, the cast, and get this, the boot...that alone cost $375!!
I called them to ask why my Delta Gold insurance hadn't covered it. They said, No ER coverage...oh, and your deductible is $2,000 so even if it were covered, you'd still have to pay the $2,000. So I told them they could have the boot back, she only wore it about a week. No dice.
Maybe I can sell it on Ebay.
You think your kids are expensive now? Wait until you start paying for College!
Like a Capt. told me when my kids were first born and I was complaining about lack of sleep;
"Little kids, little problems. Big kids, BIG PROBLEMS!"
02-06-2012, 06:35 AM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2011
Posts: 403
Bill,
Management's strategy has been obvious to me for the last 12 years now:
Management's strategy has been obvious to me for the last 12 years now:
"Reduce Delta pilots' until they are irrelevant."
I think Contract 2000 and the Comair strike both left an impression on management. They seek to never be held hostage by organized labor. They will outsource and dilute our flying, continuing steadily to reduce our numbers. By the time our pilot group wakes up, it will be too late.
Management is smart enough to try to pull the shrinkage off the top. That lowers costs and keeps the majority from demanding change in our bargaining priorities. Management is aware that the bottom third is stagnant, they don't care. They are not a majority. Management knows they just need to keep the majority focus on self interest and the rest will fall their way.
Management is smart enough to try to pull the shrinkage off the top. That lowers costs and keeps the majority from demanding change in our bargaining priorities. Management is aware that the bottom third is stagnant, they don't care. They are not a majority. Management knows they just need to keep the majority focus on self interest and the rest will fall their way.
02-06-2012, 06:35 AM
Can't abide NAI
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Douglas Aerospace post production Flight Test & Work Around Engineering bulletin dissembler
Posts: 12,037
Does anybody else think our health insurance sucks? I have the gold plan. My 2 year old couldn't stop throwing up. Called doctor. Was told by my doctor to go to emergency room (doctor called hospital and told them I was coming). Plan doesn't cover any of it. I guess I'm supposed to ignore my doctor's orders and put my child's life at risk next time because our insurance does not cover emergency room visits at in-network hospitals at midnight (sarcasm). In all serious though, it's bullcrap.
UHC knows they do not have to compete for our business. UHC knows they've lobbied and gotten exemptions to regulation, which makes them immune to our attempts to get help from the Agencies which should ensure this is a fair exchange between consenting parties.
UHC does not just suck. They're unaccountable and know from their position of monopoly power that you're impotent to do anything about their malfeasance.
Under law, you should be able to get a copy of your policy and review it. With UHC, they will claim their contract is with Delta, not you. Therefore they do not have to respond to you. That leaves you dealing with a department at Delta which mostly does not exist after bankruptcy. Further, I'd guess you put your career at some jeopardy when you finally find someone over there to talk to (who is also powerless to challenge UHC) and get angry.
In our case, UHC's coverage was worse than having none at all. Our kid's bill was 400% higher because of the in network contract UHC has with our local hospital. UHC could not explain why their contracted rate was so high. Further for one procedure the "out of network reasonable and customary cost" was $374. "In Network" that same "reasonable and customary cost" was a little over $1,800.
UHC refused to let me see any of the contracts. I refused to pay the higher version of "reasonable and customary." Eventually the CFO of the Hospital was fired and his replacement proudly posted on his Facebook page the news of his promotion and his election as President of his Neighborhood Association. With that information I informed him that I would have a process server deliver my lawsuit to him at his neighborhood's Christmas Party.
We should not have to resort to jerk moves like that to avoid getting ripped off, but since we don't have the ability to lobby congress, a guy's got to be creative to ensure fairness.
02-06-2012, 06:38 AM
Get's Every Day Off
Joined APC: Oct 2006
Position: Retired
Posts: 1,860
Since the Pats let him get there unimpeded, I'm pretty sure he was just as surprised and why he wasn't able to stop. Did you see the Pats behind him coming at him. If he had stopped and squatted there like it looked like he was going to do...I'm pretty sure the Pats were coming to push him in for the score.
02-06-2012, 06:39 AM
Runs with scissors
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Position: Going to hell in a bucket, but enjoying the ride .
Posts: 7,730
Bill,
Management's strategy has been obvious to me for the last 12 years now:
Management's strategy has been obvious to me for the last 12 years now:
"Reduce Delta pilots' until they are irrelevant."
I think Contract 2000 and the Comair strike both left an impression on management. They seek to never be held hostage by organized labor. They will outsource and dilute our flying, continuing steadily to reduce our numbers. By the time our pilot group wakes up, it will be too late.
Management is smart enough to try to pull the shrinkage off the top. That lowers costs and keeps the majority from demanding change in our bargaining priorities. Management is aware that the bottom third is stagnant, they don't care. They are not a majority. Management knows they just need to keep the majority focus on self interest and the rest will fall their way.
BB, I believe you are right. The Com Air strike was a Wake Up call to Mgt. It just about shut down all the feed into CVG, and CVG has never recovered, trafic wise. I'm sure it will be the next base to be eliminated.
Up until the Com Air strike, they and ASA were about the only DCC's we had. Since that strike, DL has divided that flying up into what, about 12 other DCC's? So a 'work stoppage' by any one of them will have just about zero effect on the overall flying. They will be replaced by one of the remaining 11 DCC's, no doubt.
02-06-2012, 06:42 AM
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jul 2008
Position: MSP7ERB
Posts: 1,886
Hadn't thought of that. Yes, that Hail Mary was almost caught -- could've gone either way.
02-06-2012, 06:45 AM
Can't abide NAI
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Douglas Aerospace post production Flight Test & Work Around Engineering bulletin dissembler
Posts: 12,037
My 14yr. old daughter broke a bone in her foot last year at gymnastics practice, so I take her to the ER, Xrays show the break, they put her in a hard cast for a month, then the inflateable velcro boot.
Then I got a bill for over $2,500, for the ER, the Xrays, the cast, and get this, the boot...that alone cost $375!!
I called them to ask why my Delta Gold insurance hadn't covered it. They said, No ER coverage...oh, and your deductible is $2,000 so even if it were covered, you'd still have to pay the $2,000. So I told them they could have the boot back, she only wore it about a week. No dice.
Then I got a bill for over $2,500, for the ER, the Xrays, the cast, and get this, the boot...that alone cost $375!!
I called them to ask why my Delta Gold insurance hadn't covered it. They said, No ER coverage...oh, and your deductible is $2,000 so even if it were covered, you'd still have to pay the $2,000. So I told them they could have the boot back, she only wore it about a week. No dice.
Unless something has changed, ER is "covered." The problem is (as you pointed out) it is covered with the money you co-insure.
Worse, it is covered per a top secret (not kidding*) contract between UHC and your provider. You can not see it and you can not know what they have agreed for YOU to pay. It might be a million bucks and the hospital will expect YOU to pay it, even though you likely did not even know of its existence.
As I explained in an earlier post, UHC agreed to pay a little greater than 400% above what I would have paid as a cash customer (or what they would have considered reasonable for out of network). UHC had no explanation for the grossly inflated amount other than "it probably is a mistake, but it is in the contract ... We will investigate it, but you still must pay the contracted amount."
This is a real exposure for Delta pilots. We don't know what's in UHC's contracts. An error could bankrupt you. It is absolutely unacceptable that the only truly safe option for a UHC customer is to sham divorce their wife and kids, bankrupt them and get them on Medicaid.
If this ever comes up again, I think my strategy will be to deny the existence of UHC coverage, get the copy of the bill from the Hospital, try to adjust it if necessary, then make the decision whether to submit it to UHC. You really can't trust those folks and once you throw your UHC card on the counter, you're out of the loop. You simply have to pay what they decide you owe.
Any attorneys on this board want to chime in on how they deal with this?
*(1) While researching the idea of a lawsuit against the Hospital and UHC seeking an injunction I learned a smiliar action in local State Court had gotten appealed on the discovery request for a copy of the contract. The Plaintiff was about $40,000 into jet waging the fight to see what UHC and the hospital had agreed the unwitting third party had agreed to pay.
02-06-2012, 06:45 AM
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jul 2008
Position: MSP7ERB
Posts: 1,886
Wow, I'm glad that I have military Tricare after hearing these other healthcare stories. $2,000 deductible on an emergency room visit?!
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