Harvey Watt Insurance
 

Just cutting them another check to make sure my home team is taken care of, just in case they serve me Fugu instead of tuna sushi on a layover in Japan. They send out a very sparse bill, with no information other than the bill due each year. It is one expensive piece of paper...

Anyone heard of a pilot's (I know it is not a good thing) family getting the big payout? Sometimes I wonder if I'm subsidizing Madoff's cigarette allowance in prison.

If the un"Friendly cab driver goes nuts some night on the drive to the Oakland airport, I hope the $$$ make it home.

Since you didn't specify exactly which insurance product you have with Harvey Watt, it's sort of hard to answer your question. That said, it seems like you're not convinced that you're spending your money wisely, and also wondering if companies like Harvey Watt actually pay off their claims. Rest assured that if you pass away (if it's life insurance you're talking about), and you're current with your premiums, then your beneficiaries will be paid.

It might also interest you to know that when you get home, you'll probably find a letter from ALPA, telling you that they've taken over the administration of both the Harvey Watt sponsored Life plan as well as the Long Term Disability plan. Personally, now that's something I wish would have never happened, as I'd much rather deal with Harvey Watt than ALPA, if for no other reason than every time I've called HW, someone actually answers the phone and attends to my needs, whereas I've almost never gotten the person I was trying to reach at ALPA National, without multiple call-backs and phone tag. Hopefully your experiences have been better, but somehow I doubt it.

JJ

That is bad news. Seriously.

PIPE

Sorry, life insurance is what I was referring to.

I agree with you regarding the ALPA takeover of the other product. That is what prompted me to post this. I agree with your comments vis a vis Watt vs ALPA.

While ALPA Life Insurance has gotten better, I'm not sure they are the best rates.

Back in late 2006, I did a pretty detailed comparison of USAA, FEDEX and ALPA life insurance plans/premiums.

I found that if you are in good health, and don't smoke the USAA and FEDEX insurance plans were better than ALPA.

I often think the ALPA insurance is geared towards guys that don't have a competitive option with their own company (smaller regional maybe) or don't want to take a physical.

Bottom line --- shop around --- especially if you are younger, not overweight and don't smoke --- there are better deals out there.

I agree with JJ here,

....but please confirm, with regards to the disability insurance, that ALPA is just taking over the administration of the plan benefits and that the underwriter, the benefits themselves, and the rates are not changing...??? :confused:

The Harvey Watt disability plan is/was something special that was written specifically to complement our FDX company provided disability benefits.

The ALPA Loss of License plans appear to be written for all ALPA pilots.

Affirmative. From what I read, ALPA is taking over administrative duties, but we are still underwritten by UNUM.

LTD still ends at 60 doesn't it?

I just got off the phone with ALPA. Yes, I was actually able to get the right person, in the right department, to discuss their taking over of the administration of both the HW LTD as well as the Life products. I was told that nothing in either contract has changed. That includes premiums (what we pay for the policy), face amounts, when a policy terminates, ie, at a given age, etc. As well, the person I talked to said that ALPA was currently putting together a document that will be mailed to all policy holders, explaining everything to us. She didn't say when it would be done, just that it was being worked on right now.

JJ

I believe in the past that FDX deducted your premiums from your paycheck --- sent them to ALPA --- who sent them to Harvey Watt --- who ultimately sent a portion to the underwriter.

It appears the new process will merely cut out one of these steps.

Hopefully, there is a true "cost efficiency" here, and our premiums will not rise in the future due to ALPAs new administration of these policies.

DLax,

You bring up an interesting point, although it's not exactly correct. As an example, I have the life insurance policy with HW and it's paid for by a monthly direct withdrawal from one of my bank accounts. I had been thinking about that very situation, because one of the ways to have an insurance policy canceled out from under you, is to fail to pay the premiums. So it becomes quite important for the policy holder to make sure that those premiums get paid. Toward that end, I've put in another call to ALPA (this time I got the insurance ladies' voice mail) to ask her what accommodations need to be made to seamlessly transition to paying ALPA instead of Harvey Watt.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that ALPA would be interested in receiving monthly payments that are not in the form of a FedEx payroll deduction. My problem is that I no longer get my paychecks from FedEx, so a payroll deduction is out of the question.

So I'm sitting here wondering why FedEx ALPA decided to make this change? Or am I asking the wrong question... Should I be asking the question: why did ALPA National force this change? Is the intent (by ALPA) to make it difficult for members to continue with these policies, so that they cancel them and then purchase similar policies from ALPA, or is it retribution on ALPA's part, against Harvey Watt, for their providing insurance services for the US Airways pilot group, after they decertified ALPA? If anyone knows the answers, please let us all know.

So now I understand what paranoia is all about.:D

JJ

Addendum:

I just received a phone call from ALPA in which I was told that the only two ways to pay premiums on these policies are by direct payroll deduction, if you're actively working for FedEx, or by paying a monthly bill that ALPA will send you. There is no provision to pay by deduction from your bank account. They were very nice on the phone.

Crap: Here I thought that one of the deductions from my paycheck was FOR LTD supplied via HW. Looks like I need to make a phone call to ALPA.

Have to agree about USAA being more competitive. At 35 I signed up for a 30 year $500,000 term policy for $40/month throughout. No smoking and reasonably good health.

As stated below --- the method you mention could be the current case.

FDX deduction to your paycheck for LTD sent to ALPA by FEDEX, then from ALPA to HW, then HW to underwriter.

Check with ALPA, but it should now be going from ALPA to underwriter, with HW cut out.

I believe you will see no change from your perspective because that final step was actually transparent to you.

DLax,

According to ALPA, what you're saying is exactly what will be happening, starting the first of February. I asked ALPA if that meant an increase in income for them, due to the fact that the middle man (HW) is going to be cut out, and was told that that still had to be negotiated with FDX ALPA, but that they really weren't sure at the moment. It would have been nice if they would have lowered our premiums for the same coverage, thereby passing the savings along to their customers, but alas it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

JJ

I got a better rate through SelectQuote than I could through any aviation group or organization. No separate rider for pilots either. $1.5 mil coverage for $700/yr. Not too bad

There are plenty of insurance companies that will sell you a cheaper policy with the same face value, for significantly less money, and it's always in your best interest to shop around. That said, be sure you are comparing apples to apples, because there are many ways to make a policy "cheap." As an example, here's a really good thread about this type of issue: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/mi...2617-usaa.html Again, just make sure you really know what you're buying, and it should go without saying that you make sure that you're eligible (capable of passing any and all exams) to actually purchase the new insurance, before you cancel the coverage you currently own. Insurance is about the future, so make sure that if you're looking at life insurance, that you have the ability to keep it as long as you'd want, because some policies will lapse at a predetermined age, like 65 or 70.

JJ

...wholeheartedly agree with JJ here, but JJ --- why would the "common man/pilot" need life insurance at 65 or 70 if they are no longer protecting a specific income stream?

By defintion, all insurance is a "negative expected value" game and one should only insure against losses/risks they cannot take themselves.

Just curious...

Many reasons. As an example, I had lunch today with a pilot friend of mine whose 54 years old with two children, the youngest of whom is 5 years old. When the young one goes to college, assuming he's smart enough to get in;) my friend, his dad, will be 67, and I assume, long-retired. That's only one case.

How about the married pilot who, for whatever reason, has not been able to save much toward retirement. Should he (or she) plan on not leaving their spouse with enough to get by?

I agree, all things considered, as we age, our families needs should eventually get less and less, but that's not always the case. Another example might be that you want to leave something to your children, as well as providing for their kids' education. The reasons are endless. Suffice it to say that insurance plays a very big part in retirement planning, and it would be shortsighted to buy a policy, based only on the premiums, while overlooking all the other aspects that could come into play later in life. So it's important to get the right policy for you, taking into consideration all the likely circumstances that you might envision, because if you decide, later in life, that you're under-insured, due to health considerations (at that time), you might find yourself uninsurable, or at minimum, uninsurable at a reasonable cost. Ask me how I know.

JJ

I just recieved a very nice phone call from our Block 2 rep, VL. He had been following this thread and wanted to bring me up to date on the why's and wherefore's. Here's what I was told: 1. FedEx ALPA was collecting, via payroll deduction, premiums for both life and LTD insurances (that were "bought" from Harvey Watt); 2. The money was then sent to Harvey Watt, where 15% of the money was deducted (as their fee for administering the plans), before the rest was sent along to The Hartford Insurance Group (the underwriters of our policies) for payment of premiums.

Now with this change, FedEx ALPA will continue to collect the money as before, and send it directly to The Hartford, thereby saving us the 15% administrative fees, which VL says will be returned to us. To do this, I assume (as he didn't specify) our payroll deductions (for premiums) will be reduce by 15%. A very good deal. The official Cliff Notes should be out sometime in the next few weeks.

JJ

Great ---- looking forward to the new rates!

(OBTW --- ALPA lurkers monitoring the "lunatic fringe minority" on APC??? You don't say! I thought they were all on the ALPA message board. ;):D:))

Thanks JJ!

You're welcome. Monday I'll get right on 4a2b.:rolleyes:

JJ

OK, I'll bite. To leave the B***h who ruined your life a wealthy widow? That's what we are supposed to do, right?:)

Let it go, man. Just, let it, go. :D

I would sleep with one eye open if I were you.:rolleyes: