My wife is a waitress here in Illinois. She has BCBS insurance and the premium for a family of 4 is $30 a month. Dr visits are $20 copay or $40 for a specialist. Meds are $5-10 copay. It’s fantastic insurance compared to our choices at DAL. It’s actually provided by her union.

I don’t know if because our pilot employees span every one of the 50 states, if that makes it harder to get a good plan like this, but I’d like to see any extra money, not in the form of pay or DC increases to go towards a much better plan with much lower premiums, and include all retirees. That would help everyone and reduce the huge burden of medical costs on retirees until Medicare kicks in.

I’d like to retire at 55, if I can afford it, but medical costs until Medicare kicks in (63 I think?), will be my biggest obstacle.

I don’t want to see a DB plan again, and an annuity is a hell no, but I agree that not looking into it would be irresponsible for our reps. I’d be willing to donate $100 with everyone else, if our political affairs people wanted to lobby Capitol Hill to raise 415(c) limits or push for legislation that allowed us to save more per year for retirement.

Just my thoughts. It can’t be impossible to find a way to help everyone with healthcare costs. And for retirees, it would offset a huge burden in retirement. I like the plan mentioned giving us a credit for the DPMP if you have better insurance available, you take the money, and if you use the DPMP, it’s nothing, or very little, out of pocket. If we make sure retirees are included until Medicare (if someone wants to retire early) is available and even after 63 to help with part D insurance, everyone benefits.