Flyinhigh

The medical coverage from age 60 to 65 is probably one of the biggest questions about what to do when it comes time to think about retirement. I don't know your situation, but if you have TriCare, you may want to look at the High Deductible Plan for Pre-65 Retirees. If you and your spouse are in fairly good health, it is a low cost way to slide in to MediCare. In 2010 the cost was $510 per month for you and your spouse (with the base Dental Plan and Davis Vision). This will also meet the requirement of the CBA to have a FedEx Retiree Health Care Plan in place when you turn 65 so you can participate in the ALPA PRP for a MediCare Supplement. Just food for thought.

MacGuy2

Hey Flyinhigh, you keep posting, please. For those of us nearing retirement it's nice to hear what we have to look forward to. Thanks!

MG2

DLax85

Little confused --- and very ignorant --- just wondering...

Aren't those with full military retirements and medical benefits covered by TRICARE standard at "no monthly cost" and TRICARE Prime at a very reasonable quarterly or annual fee up to Age65?

...and then TRICARE for Life after 65?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

TonyC

The cost of post-retirement/pre-Medicare health care was a huge problem facing our pilots in 2006. ALPA negotiated a benefit for the pilots who would reach Age 60 during the "life" of the negotiated CBA (until the CBA reached its amendable date) plus a few years to allow time to negotiate another CBA to address the same problem for the next wave of retiring pilots.

CBA 2006 solved the problem with a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA) - a "trust fund" of sorts - funded by The Company with a lump sum of cash into a Health Reimbursement Account for pilots who would reach Age 53 by January 1, 2007. Come January 2, 2014, the pilot who missed that deadline by 1 day will turn 60 with no VEBA to soften the blow of post-retirement/pre-Medicare health care costs. (See CBA Section 27, Paragraph H.7.)

You recommended Contract 2010 for ratification knowing that this issue was not addressed for the next "wave" of retirees, and knowing that many of your constituents would be left behind. The "about a grand a month" expense of retiree health care presents an obstacle to retirement that will likely induce many pilots like you to delay their retirement until they reach age 65 and become eligible for Medicare.


To make matters worse, it seems the priority of addressing this problem has been significantly reduced using the reasoning that "most pilots have Tri-Care to fall back on anyway."

I hope you saved some of that 6% pay raise so you can retire as planned and afford your health insurance premiums.


While we're all so focused on PiBS, I hope we can still remember to take care of all of our retiring pilots (not just the military retirees) with a way to afford their post-retirement health insurance premiums.


To the Original Poster: This is not the time to be singling out a portion of the pilot group with attacks. That old guy has every right to be here. It's long past time for you to get over it. There's only one "us", and there's only one "them". Pick a side.





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Whale Pilot

++1111

Well said!

Gunter

And they responded overwhelming by choosing to retire at 65 anyway. Which negated the "problem" entirely. But not the benefit. They still have it to use later. BTW, half of the "company's" lump sum was money due the association for wet leasing penalties. Money that was due all of us, not just the over 53 crowd. I would feel better with a "thank you, under 53 pilot" from these guys. What did we give up to help fund their retirement?


You make them sound so helpless. Like they're getting thrown under the bus. Please spare us. If we're throwing around quotes -- how about BC's concerning schooling in an FDA, "I have to pay for my kids to go to private school in Germantown so you should pay for school in an FDA."


You may think I'm against helping those retiring. I'm not. But working their deals while pushing a substandard FDA LOA is not right.

I'm glad we don't have the same kind of people in charge that would accept PBS for a new and improved VEBA deal. And glad the makeup of the membership now would flush it if required.

TonyC

You are so far off on so many points that I am not going to bother refuting each one. They've all been covered here before, and I don't have the time to waste.

But I will try this once more ...


There's only one us, and only one them.

It's OUR deal.






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MaydayMark

Welcome to ObamaCare my friends ...

"You'll be able to keep your current insurance/doctors if you like them"

"It'll save $2500 per family"

And ... "PBS will be good for you, you'll like it"

Gunter

Spot on. We're all a short time away from the same situation.

Everyone has a right to stay until 65.

MaydayMark

So Tony ... why did ALPA fix the retiree medical problem for BC and DW but not for you and me (and thousands of others)? That deal smelled bad to me back then and I did not vote for it, did you?