Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
02-06-2012, 08:11 AM
Runs with scissors
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Position: Going to hell in a bucket, but enjoying the ride .
Posts: 7,730
Re. the Tri Care post:
I did volunteer to serve, and served for 8 years, but to get Tri Care coverage, you have to be on active duty, (or Reserves) or retired AD, ie. put in 20 years.
But ultimately, who is it that's paying for your Tri Care?
The Civilians...you know, those other Tax Payers that don't have access to Tri Care.
I did volunteer to serve, and served for 8 years, but to get Tri Care coverage, you have to be on active duty, (or Reserves) or retired AD, ie. put in 20 years.
But ultimately, who is it that's paying for your Tri Care?
The Civilians...you know, those other Tax Payers that don't have access to Tri Care.
02-06-2012, 08:20 AM
Can't abide NAI
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Douglas Aerospace post production Flight Test & Work Around Engineering bulletin dissembler
Posts: 12,037
Not sure about the true utility of this technique, but I did find it an interesting read and something good to have in my hip pocket. BBar should enjoy it.
"How to Survive Hospital Costs Without Insurance"
http://www.lawfulpath.com/ref/shc_rev2-0eval.pdf
"How to Survive Hospital Costs Without Insurance"
http://www.lawfulpath.com/ref/shc_rev2-0eval.pdf
The article makes one assumption that might not always be true for us. It assumes UHC's contract is better than a customer could achieve by walking in and paying cash. Recent experience clearly points out that is not true.
When UHC agrees "reasonable and customary" for in network is $1,800+ and out of network is $374 for the exact same service code, one of the two numbers is fraud.
New York's Attorney General points this out:
This is where the fraud comes in. This reasonable and customary fee is intentionally set low by Ingenix, a company owned by United Healthcare, an obvious conflict of interest which bilks customers out of millions. For example if the doctor’s fee is $200, Ingenix says the customary fee is $90, and they pay only 72 dollars instead of $160. "Health Insurers such as United Healthcare have been systematically cheating patients and doctors of fair reimbursement for medical services through the industry’s arcane procedures for calculating "reasonable and customary" rates", according to a New York Times editorial. (New York Times, 2/18).
02-06-2012, 08:29 AM
The Brown Dot +1
Joined APC: Jun 2009
Position: 777B
Posts: 7,775
Re. the Tri Care post:
I did volunteer to serve, and served for 8 years, but to get Tri Care coverage, you have to be on active duty, (or Reserves) or retired AD, ie. put in 20 years.
But ultimately, who is it that's paying for your Tri Care?
The Civilians...you know, those other Tax Payers that don't have access to Tri Care.
I did volunteer to serve, and served for 8 years, but to get Tri Care coverage, you have to be on active duty, (or Reserves) or retired AD, ie. put in 20 years.
But ultimately, who is it that's paying for your Tri Care?
The Civilians...you know, those other Tax Payers that don't have access to Tri Care.
WIC provides better neo-natal than DAL thru UHC or TriCare.
Is there really any doubt as to the brokenness of our "system?"
02-06-2012, 08:38 AM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: Boeing Hearing and Ergonomics Lab Rat, Night Shift
Posts: 1,724
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.
The Delta pilot group is shrinking and seniority progression has pretty much stagnated for most. A few have advanced, some have regressed. At the end of the day we have fewer captain positions now than we had right after the last hiring wave.
I don't believe managements motivation is a s sinister as you believe. For one, a few of the top guys weren't at Delta for C2K or the Comair strike. The issue is really related to appease financial types. All to often Employees and related expenses are viewed more the way the financial types look at "liabilities." And outsourced work or services are simply viewed as "operating expenses".
As SD said we are creating something of value to the company. At at some point that will have to create value to Delta pilots. We have two currencies we accept: Seniority and Pay.
As FtB's charts showed, pay rate restoration, even if matched in dollars, won't restore the buying power when factoring in inflation. I'm flying with quite a few captains that are in a jet several pay categories below the jet they were on when rates were better.
There is a value to seniority progression. It's measured in Dollars, Schedule, Day's off and Vacation. It would be foolish to not capture seniority progression as part of any credible attempt at restoring pay.
Apart from lack of organic growth the biggest threat for seniority progression is coming in the form of fleet renewal. Even if we manage to bring the 100 seater in-house, it will only replace the parked DC-9s. Large DCI jets are replacing the DC-9 mission. The MD90s are being used to perform missions typical to the 73N and 320. The 739 is slated to replace some domestic 75 and 76 flying. Going forward it will only take a few 777-300s to replace 7ER capacity 2:1 while boosting cargo revenue 3:1.
The 7ER category, for many the jet to fly 'till retirement, will shrink significantly going forward. That means even fewer wide body captain positions, fewer augmented crews, etc. The expected impact of the "big wave of retirements" will probably be similar to the impact of the mythical "pilot shortage" wave...
How can we move forward? I's not that complicated...
- Boost Payrates
- Improve Retiree Medical
- Capture a larger portion of DCI, Codeshare and JV flying for Delta pilots
- Delta pilot block hour floors ratchet up based on economic indices.
Cheers
George
02-06-2012, 09:06 AM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Oct 2006
Position: Dismayed
Posts: 1,598
Re. the Tri Care post:
I did volunteer to serve, and served for 8 years, but to get Tri Care coverage, you have to be on active duty, (or Reserves) or retired AD, ie. put in 20 years.
But ultimately, who is it that's paying for your Tri Care?
The Civilians...you know, those other Tax Payers that don't have access to Tri Care.
I did volunteer to serve, and served for 8 years, but to get Tri Care coverage, you have to be on active duty, (or Reserves) or retired AD, ie. put in 20 years.
But ultimately, who is it that's paying for your Tri Care?
The Civilians...you know, those other Tax Payers that don't have access to Tri Care.
I count my self lucky that I was able to retire. That isn't always the case and now in a budget cutting move, they are throwing folks out before they reach 20.
02-06-2012, 09:18 AM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2009
Posts: 314
Does anyone know if the "Preference Qualifiers" are an all or nothing deal? Suppose you want 1 or 2 day trips, reports after noon, block ins before noon, etc.
In order to be assigned a trip with "preference qualifiers" do they need to meet all of the qualifiers? Will it give the best trip that meets some qualifiers?
Thanks.
In order to be assigned a trip with "preference qualifiers" do they need to meet all of the qualifiers? Will it give the best trip that meets some qualifiers?
Thanks.
02-06-2012, 09:32 AM
The Brown Dot +1
Joined APC: Jun 2009
Position: 777B
Posts: 7,775
Does anyone know if the "Preference Qualifiers" are an all or nothing deal? Suppose you want 1 or 2 day trips, reports after noon, block ins before noon, etc.
In order to be assigned a trip with "preference qualifiers" do they need to meet all of the qualifiers? Will it give the best trip that meets some qualifiers?
Thanks.
In order to be assigned a trip with "preference qualifiers" do they need to meet all of the qualifiers? Will it give the best trip that meets some qualifiers?
Thanks.
02-06-2012, 09:34 AM
The Brown Dot +1
Joined APC: Jun 2009
Position: 777B
Posts: 7,775
You bring up a good point. If you don't retire either AD or reserve, you don't get tricare. I should have pointed that out. Using tricare as an example of government healthcare is just not a good example, but too frequently it is brought up anyway. To those folks who say the government should pay for everyone's healthcare, just like tricare, I tell them to volunteer, do 20 and retire (AD or reserve). Otherwise universal healthcare is just another example of bribing people with the people's money.
I count my self lucky that I was able to retire. That isn't always the case and now in a budget cutting move, they are throwing folks out before they reach 20.
I count my self lucky that I was able to retire. That isn't always the case and now in a budget cutting move, they are throwing folks out before they reach 20.
"I want my gubmint cheese"
sung to the tune of "I want my MTV."
02-06-2012, 09:39 AM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2010
Posts: 2,530
Apparently Giselle disagrees with you....
Gisele's Super Bowl Potty Mouth | TheInsider.com
Tom Brady's Wife Blames Patriots Teammates
Monday, February 6, 2012 7:41 amWritten by: Ben Maller
Watching your husband's team lose the Super Bowl can't be easy, but nobody expected this kind of reaction from the world's most famous supermodel.
Gisele Bundchen tossed Tom Brady's teammates under the bus following the Giants 21-17 upset of the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Brazilian beauty was caught in a moment of weakness by TheInsider.com waiting for an elevator as she left the suites at Lucas Oil Stadium.
A few Giants fans started heckling her about Brady's performance as she walked quickly through the concourse. After initially smiling and even trying to ignore the fans, Bundchen let her guard down just long enough to deliver a foul-mouthed defense of her man -- and a sideswipe of his receivers.
"You (have) to catch the ball when you're supposed to catch the ball," she is heard saying. "My husband cannot [expletive] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times."
Pats receivers Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Aaron Hernandez all dropped passes. As a team, New England dropped at least four catchable balls.
Gisele's Super Bowl Potty Mouth | TheInsider.com
Tom Brady's Wife Blames Patriots Teammates
Monday, February 6, 2012 7:41 amWritten by: Ben Maller
Watching your husband's team lose the Super Bowl can't be easy, but nobody expected this kind of reaction from the world's most famous supermodel.
Gisele Bundchen tossed Tom Brady's teammates under the bus following the Giants 21-17 upset of the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Brazilian beauty was caught in a moment of weakness by TheInsider.com waiting for an elevator as she left the suites at Lucas Oil Stadium.
A few Giants fans started heckling her about Brady's performance as she walked quickly through the concourse. After initially smiling and even trying to ignore the fans, Bundchen let her guard down just long enough to deliver a foul-mouthed defense of her man -- and a sideswipe of his receivers.
"You (have) to catch the ball when you're supposed to catch the ball," she is heard saying. "My husband cannot [expletive] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times."
Pats receivers Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Aaron Hernandez all dropped passes. As a team, New England dropped at least four catchable balls.
02-06-2012, 09:39 AM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2009
Posts: 314
Deleted....thanks for the reply.
Last edited by jabwmu; 02-06-2012 at 10:00 AM.
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