Chris99

I just went through the CS health benefits paperwork and had a couple questions. I come from a military background, so this is my first experience with picking health care. From a cost standpoint, the Cigna in-network plan seems to win hands down. What would be the pros to going with the PPO? I'm going with the family plan. I'm starting at SMF in August and moving to the DEN domicile within a year. Any input from guys at those bases regarding network quality/availability is appreciated.

Also, if you are a young guy with 20/20 vision and paying for 1st class medicals twice a year, what's the point in paying for the vision part of the plan? What would be the savings if you didn't go for the vision?

Lastly, do you turn in all this paperwork on your first day of indoc, or does someone help you go through it? Thanks for the help.

Pilotpip

PPO's give you much more freedom. Usually have many more doctors and will allow you to go to an out-of-network specialist where an HMO will not. You pay a little more for this but if you have kids and take them to the pediatrician a couple times it's worth it. This especially becomes apparent when you have to do the HMO dance getting referrals and finding the few that are still members.

NetJets_DA2Easy

Another vote for PPO, I like being able to go to whatever doc I want to go to, and wherever.

Don't have any idea how much you'd save by opting for no vision, our medical / dental and vision is 100% paid for by the company, it's in the contract.

beechbum

I am not familiar with the CS benefits, but hopefully I can add some sort of value here. As for the HMO, I personally along with many others don't like them. The reason for that is that you have a doctor that you are assigned to that you visit no matter what and then he will refer you to the appropriate specialist if he feels it is necessary. That doctor you are assigned to gets paid a certain amount of money each year no matter what he does for you. If he does decide to run test on you, that is money out of his pocket. A lot of important things have been misdiagnosed when the patient is in a HMO. Any test or follow up visit is money out of the doctors pocket. Not to discredit the doctor, but he is in the business to make money just like everyone else. So, all that to say this, stay away from any HMO.

As for vision insurance, I wear glasses and contacts and see the optomitrist at least once a year. It is slightly cheaper for me to pay all of my vision bills out of pocket than to carry vision insurance. Like I said earlier, I am not familiar with the plan you are being offered, but of the three that I have seen it is not worth it. Remember, insurance companies are not charities. They are for profit businesses. Their purpose is to protect us from catastrophic losses, and what vision insurance will cover will not result in a catastrophic loss. It is something that people buy that don't understand exactly what they are buying (for the most part). That is very profitable for the insurance company because you almost always pay in more than you get out of it.

NetJets_DA2Easy

The money you are going to wind up spending on health insurance at CS vs company paying for 100% of health insurance an NetJets and the 50% match on the 401K up to 15% at NJA vs the 50% match up to 6% at CS is going to cost you in the end. If you don't make it to SWA you made a mistake thinking shares is a career.

You could've bought tickets on SWA to commute two times a month for $49. to get to your domicile, and the upgrade will be quicker at NJA, the growth at shares is very slow, if it isn't you could at least bid FO on the Falcon and have a flight attentant wipe the p!ss off the sh!tter instead of you having to clean it up, and getting on your hands and knees and pushing the turds down the toilet and pulling the nasty blue water filled tray out of the Bravo/Ultra/Encore is no fun.

NetJets_DA2Easy

NetJets reimburses you for your medical, doesn't CS do that? More money you'd be saving at NJA. Not to mention the catered meals we get 3 times a day, so we save the $6000. in perdiem we get a year.

jmack

true, I think NJA has the best beny package in the entire industry. Adds alot to the bottom line salary if you consider all the beny's.

flyguy37

you save no money by not taking the vision. It is all included in the price you pay each month so not taking dental or vision saves you nothing.

If you go to indoc first you will have help all week to fill out paperwork from HR but if you go to sim first you may have to work out some stuff on the phone.

As for NJA and the commuting thing. I had this option but figured out I was going to be spending an extra 40 nights away from home possibly and an extra 2k a year on tickets and that is only if you caught every flight as planned.

Chris99

Thanks for the info. According to page 9 of the 2007 Employee Benefits booklet it says "If you do not wish to obtain services from a VSP provider (vision plan), you will be reimbursed for the service charges in accordance with VSP's non-network provider fee schedule." Doesn't this mean you would get money back if you elected not to use the vision? Does anyone know how much this would be?

NJDA2Easy, thanks for providing the comparison of benefits between our two companies. However, I did not even apply to NJ because CS was a better fit for me. Commuting equals time away from family, and time=money. I can live where I want to (DEN) with CS and have more time with my family. You can't put a price tag on that as far as I'm concerned. Also, I like the smaller company size, even if it means slower growth. To each his own. Also, what did you mean by saying "if you don't make it to SWA?"

flyguy37

I love CS but it doesnt compare to SWA in the way of long term career choices. A lot of guys who like CS a lot still move on to SWA, FDX or UPS. Over the course of a 30 year career CS doesnt compare in the way of long term benefits and compensation. Upgrade will be quicker at CS than NJA due to attrition, the addition of aircraft and the fact they upgrade you usually when they tell you even if that means more captains than FOs.