The most popular medical plan (Gold HSA) is having a:

-$200 deductible increase for Employee + Spouse
-A near doubling of Maximum Out of Pocket for Employee + Spouse from $3,750 to $6,750

$3,200 annual total increase for Employee + Spouse, with a full family out of pocket being even worse.

The HSA plans took a huge hit in value in 2019 when Prescriptions moved to a Tiered System.

Delta has also been aggressive with dropping covered prescriptions. Personally, 2 of the 4 previously covered medications that I take lost coverage in the past two years. Basic, popular drugs.

When ranking priorities in pilot polling, it’s time to push this item up in ranking as our plans are beginning to experience huge losses in value.

 

Is there a cost comparison guide somewhere we can reference?

I tried out the new “copay” plan as of the last round and haven’t looked back.

 

The paper comparison guide usually hits our mailbox around this time. The plan documents are already up on the benefits website.

 

Lovely. In addition to that the UHC system has continued to deteriorate with quality and even availability of providers.

My primary doc (not AME) was run out of his group for spending too much time with patients. Imagine that.

So now his office sends us a letter saying he’s gone but we can get in with another provider (a new, presumably less expensive PA) with the implication that she will be spending less time with patients. GMAFB.

I started looking around for options for another primary care doc, using the UHC doc finder, and they either will not accept new patients or want to sign you up for a concierge subscription that doesn’t count towards deductibles, coinsurance, max OOP, etc. I gave up after a couple hours on the phone and will just ask the AME to refill mx prescriptions if he will do it.

Our insurance needs a nice bright line shined on it by the NC.

 

Our medical plans are the worst of the 3 airlines I have worked for. You'd think a major air line would be the best sadly that's just lip service at delta.

Not to mention the countless reports that UHC denies required medical procedures that are possibly life threatening.

 

Prescription drug coverage is a financial racket. We have seen several prescriptions where the co-pay exceeds the cash price. The only reason to use insurance is credit toward the deductible or out of pocket limit.

 

GoodRX wins out 50+% of the time for us.

 

We have the worst health insurance of ANY place I’ve ever worked. If you’re a new hire with little kids you should be aware that you’ll basically be paying out of pocket thousands of dollars for common things like ear infections and illnesses.

 

2022 Gold HSA max out of pocket for a family - $7800.
2023 is $8000.
It went up but not by a ridiculous amount. The premium is staying the same. Having said that, our insurance is still garbage.

 

The "Copay" plan is definitely closing the gap on the Gold HSA. May be better now.

I know the union came out and said they had secured HUGE improvements to the medical plan. I'm concerned that it is just huge improvements to the Delta Pilots Medical Plan, which to begin with was by far the worst and most expensive option. A huge improvement to that plan may only bring it to parity with the other lackluster plans for 2023.

It's not clear if the new negotiated plan will be a net improvement at all.