I have a few questions regarding health insurance at Southwest...

First off I am trying to time my two weeks notice at my current company so that there is no break in health insurance for my family. I received a CJO on Sep 2, but still have not heard back regarding a class date so I'm expecting a class date sometime in November. My question is if you start class in November when will your health insurance take effect?

Secondly I saw in another thread someone talking about a free plan and a plan that costs about $300 a month at Southwest. Does anyone have anymore details about the plans available at Southwest?

Thanks!

Fly,
You should be covered from day 1 at swa and if memory serves you have 30 days to elect which plan you want. The best source of info is the swapa benefits people, NOT the company benefits dept.

If you elect no medical (use wife's ins. or tricare for mil) you will get a $50 kickback per month.

The premiums have been rising to the point that for most people, the choice plan you referenced is no longer the best for most pilots. Take a hard look at the regular plan! The health savings plan HSP is also a good choice but with a very high max out of pocket probably is better suited to guys in the left seat who can afford a bit more risk.

Thank you for the info. What can you tell me about the regular plan? Cost? Out of pocket? Etc.

I VSP'd so I do not have tricare and my wife is still in school so we have to go with a company plan for our family of 3.

Agree with Stitches. You are covered from 12:01am the day you start. Regular plan is zero dollars and is a traditional health insurance plan, not a HMO. It does not cover preventive medical, though, so all those checkups you will have to negotiate with your health care provider for the walk up rate. The company benefits people won't steer you towards this plan, they will talk up the BenefitsPlus HMO stuff. Lots of pilots love the regular plan though. It gives you good coverage and the price is right. Almost everyone who uses it comes out way ahead of paying the premium and copays for the HMO.
I don't really know much about the HSA, but that is an option as well.

I am a military guy, so I take the dental and vision for my family at around 40 a month and they pay me 50 a month to carry my own health insurance.

Here is an older pamphlet. The prices for benefitsplus have probably gone up a little since this was published.

http://www.iam141.org/contract/pdfs/...tGuide2013.pdf

[QUOTE=FLY6584;1969604]I have a few questions regarding health insurance at Southwest...

First off I am trying to time my two weeks notice at my current company so that there is no break in health insurance for my family. I received a CJO on Sep 2, but still have not heard back regarding a class date so I'm expecting a class date sometime in November. My question is if you start class in November when will your health insurance take effect?

Secondly I saw in another thread someone talking about a free plan and a plan that costs about $300 a month at Southwest. Does anyone have anymore details about the plans available at Southwest?

Thanks![/QUOTEs]

If you can't time it just right and do have a gap you have some options:

1. Take COBRA from your old company - that will require you to pay the whole premium (not just your share of the actual premium) but if it is only a couple of weeks it shouldn't be too bad.

2. You can also (if you and the family are relatively healthy) buy a short term medical policy on the open market.

Good Luck and Pray you don't have to exercise either of the above options.

If I recall correctly, only the EMPLOYEE is covered at 12:01am on date of hire. Dependants are not covered until you enroll them... which you can do within the first day or so after starting class.

Not true. Whole family is covered on day one.

COBRA by the way can be purchased retroactively. I/E if the kid breaks his arm, you can apply for Cobra THEN. So you don't need to pay for it unless you need it.

I'm just thinking if I can get my company to call my last day with them November 1st and I'm willing to pay my normal monthly payment through them without them paying me at all for the month of November then I can work it to have no break in coverage.

I don't work for SW....BUT just so you know, your current company's medical plan will remain in effect until the next month...so if you gave your 2 weeks notice on October 1st you're still covered under your current medical plan until October 31st.

This should give you plenty of time to enroll in a new plan and get coverage with no gaps.

So here's a question. At my corporate gig, I pay $600/month for family coverage with a *choke* reasonable deductible and so-so insurance.

What's a realistic monthly cost at SWA for a family (non-military)?