Darant

The loophole in the ACA is that employees only have to provide the "minimum value standard" to the employee only. Many employers across the country, just like Mesa (but to a much higher degree) are providing the required plan to the employee but are subsidizing their cost for the employee plan by basically charging whatever they want for family members. I think, as many others do too, that Mesa is subsidizing their cost for the employee plans with higher than actual cost for family members.

The minimum value standard requires that the employee receive a plan that meets the required coverage at a certain cost. What my family does, is I get my plan from Mesa (which meets these standards), my wife gets hers from her company (which does basically the same thing as Mesa but the premiums are much lower, and we get our child's insurance on the healthcare exchange.

From a employee benefit standpoint, the plans offered by Mesa for family are out of this world. But there are options to reduce your cost and to get good coverage overall, you just have to work at it, sadly.

There has been so much misinformation spread about the ACA in the past years that people dont understand what it actually offers. That is a discussion for another time or place, but, become educated about what your options really are to mitigate your cost exposure, regardless where you work.

(These statements aren't directed at iFlyRC, but just using the quote to make my points for the forum at large. )

Edit: A word

ThreeStripe

Thanks guys. So a follow up question would be how is mesa getting so many warm bodies in class when the healthcare is so high? Are most pilots young and single? On the spouse's insurance as was suggested before? On the exchanges? To my knowledge, mesa is the only contract carrier with such high premiums.

BobJenkins

Most likely, those who choose Mesa don't put insurance as a major qualifying factor.

Darant

Captain pay would in essence offset these additional Healthcare cost. So I assume people, even myself, come here primarily for the upgrade and then hope to get Captain pay asap. Problem is, the quick upgrade is in serious question these days.

Xdashdriver

I've heard this many times and it confuses me. Since Mesa meets the requirements of offering an "affordable" plan, none of us qualify for the tax credit or savings. As a result you have to pay full price for the plans. When I looked at the offerings in my home state, Mesa's plans beat them all on coverage vs price. Are full price plans a lot cheaper than Mesa's insurance in a lot of states?

FrequentFly3r

To whom do we address our written resignation notice? CP? HR?

NovemberBravo

I would assume you're good with one email to both those and maybe include your regional chief. And save the email and response for your own records.

FrequentFly3r

Thanks.

Filler

NovemberBravo

I had a silver plan with Obamacare last year it was pretty good. The high end Mesa insurance plans were more than double what I was paying. Right now Im with Mesa and did the higher end value plan which works for me since I didn't use my insurance at all last year. I think Im paying 120 a month. This isn't an insurance to pick if you have a family or health issues.

ThreeStripe

Last question. It says you guys are ALPA. How is it that they can't negotiate something more in line with other contract carriers for more reasonable premiums? ASA probably has the largest employee contribution and that is 30%.