Mmitc609

Hi all, just wondering about two topics:

1. What is the CRJ flying like out of MSP? I'm looking to fly (not just credit) a bunch to build hours, and not sure what the FO flying looks like (200/900). Is it mostly 200 short hops, or can you get decent 900 runs to Canada/west coast?

2. What is the health insurance plan like? Also looking at Air Wis and Endeavor. Both offer better pay (either hourly and/or bonus). Air Wis, specifically, seems to have great insurance for a regional. Single with no kids, so just curious what the cost might be. Thoughts and experiences? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Check Complete

Not sure about MSP flying stats but our insurance is about as bad as it gets. Especially if you ever visit the ER. I had an ER visit a year ago and I paid just short of $7400 out of pocket, which was almost the whole bill.

SkyWest is self insured, so it’s cut back terribly.

A friend of mine, an FO, had his first born just before Christmas last year. The child had some complications and net effect he’s on heavy payment plan with the hospital. Because of his student loans he declared bankruptcy and is moving his family back into an apartment after losing his house.

If you have a possibility with Endeavor or Whiskey, you would be a fool to come here.

zondaracer

Hmm... I took my son to the ER and it was about $600 out of pocket, which I paid with the HSA. My wife gave birth and I was out of pocket $1200. The health insurance is not the best in the world, but it definitely hasn’t put me anywhere close to bankrupt, but I could see that if you have a high amount of debt and your child has complications, you could quickly meet the max out of pocket and struggle financially (like check complete’s friend), especially on first year pay.

Here are some numbers for a single person getting the CDHP Basic plan:
Monthly premiums: $117
HSA contribution from company: $600
Deductible: $1350
Max out of pocket: $3200
Co insurance: 20% after deductible
Preventative care: 100% covered

MSP flying goes to Canada a fair amount, mostly Saskatoon and Winnipeg. There’s some Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver. Apart from Vancouver, there’s basically no west coast flying. It’s mostly Midwest and east coast. You fly through Detroit and Atlanta a lot as well. The 900 trips typically have longer legs. MSP flying is all Delta flying. Some trips (especially on the 7/900) will get out to Montana and Washington state, but not to the coast. It’s pretty much this route map without the SLC/SEA/LAX flying:
http://www.skywest.com/assets/Uploads/RouteMaps/DeltaRoutesFEB18.pdf

I have flown through SLC on a MSP trip before, but only once. If you want to fly to the west coast, your best bet is to pick up trips in other domiciles.

N1234

Agreed on health insurance.

It is a standard insurance comparable what you would get elsewhere in corporate America. Nothing to rave about but also not a negative outlier at all.

rickair7777

Once you hit max out of pocket, aren't you done paying for that year, unless you hit whatever upper cap there is?

word302

That’s a bit of a stretch. We dropped the insurance from SkyWest because the offering from my wife’s work was exponentially better.

N1234

Some additional context may be in order. What does your wife do? Is she a teacher or somehow associated with public sector?

There are some hold outs that have superior health insurance - also big tech companies tend to do well in that category but I would consider that lucky exceptions.

WesternSkies

Our out of pocket dropped in the past few years, 3-6 grand is manageable.
Or rather more manageable then the 10k it was for families.

Rickair I think the other “max” is the max out of pocket unless you’ve hit your lifetime max benefit. I think I remember that correctly.

Look at your W2 line DD. The problem is American healthcare cost not the lack of company putting money towards it.
Divide line DD by you your Gross earnings.
Then think about how many of us used the healthcare system zero times in 2017.

Check Complete

That was kind of the issue of the guy I mentioned that went bankrupt. His wife was one claim and his child was another just before the end of the year. On Jan 1 the child was still in the hospital and the clock started all over with his out of pocket costs. So it was basically 2 different claims over 2 different years even though they were only in the hospital a total of 9 days.

I’ve heard some of the hospitals will sometimes make a deal with some of the people on our plan for a one time reduced cost fee if payed up front by the person themselves. The hospitals hate dealing with SkyWest United Healthcare.

word302

Nope. Private sector, not tech. I have talked to many people from different backgrounds with much better insurance than what SkyWest offers.