Union Health Insurance

What do health benefits look like in other unions? Whether licensed or unlicensed in SIU, there is no max out of pocket. Does anyone see this changing anytime in the near future?

I know it’s been brought up in contract discussions recently and the union shut it down really quick. They don’t want to pay the extra cost. Having no out of pocket maximum is the biggest down fall of the plan. I would take a much higher deductible for an out of pocket Max. I would also pay the difference in cost if they offered a better plan. I have searchhed for secondary coverage and can’t find anything that will cover an out of pocket max.

Health Insurance is a huge mess. This is my suggestion for what a new union might do:

  1. Basic Subscription Care - without insurance. There are more and more doctors who don’t take insurance, but provide inexpensive primary medical care by subscription. Typically, about $50 a month, plus $20 for office visits.

  2. Walk-in clinics at the union halls. Free to mariners, but making a profit off the public. This could include a basic dental clinic too.

  3. High Deductable Insurance for Major Medical in the US; it must also provide foreign coverage.

The new mega union with 10,000 members would have a lot of bargaining power and economies of scale. It would save companies money on healthcare costs.

I’m retired from AMO. AMO may not have been my first choice but my Company went that route so it is what it is.

When sailing, I found the benefits to be very good. My Ex-Wife spent quite a lot of time in a nut house, so yes I actually have a crazy Ex. Anyway the people at AMO Plans were really great to deal with and I found that they really cared. In total they laid out well over $200,000 in under a year and did not even bat an eye. The hospital that my Ex was in was out of state so they did look into places that were closer. One was even more expensive for them but they were more than willing to pay.

Well care was very reasonable and I only paid a Co-Pay as long as I stayed in my PPO planned providers.

Now that I’m retired (I was one of the last to get the 30 and out) the plan is not as good as it was when I was sailing. It’s an 80/20 with no max out of pocket. When I had Colon Cancer which involved a 7 day hospital stay which included surgery, we had to pay about $6,000.

With AMO, my Wife can be on my plan for $0.00 as long as her salary is under $32,000. When I was sailing it did not matter how much she was paid. Now that she’s looking at retiring at 62, she will be able to go on it for nothing which really helps making the decision to pull the plug. My Wife was diagnosed with a Non-Operable Brain Tumor back in November of 17, just what we needed as we were getting ready to start enjoying having both of us retired! So, I contacted AMO Plans to see what would happen if she stopped working and needed to go on my plan as we were worried about Pre-Existing Conditions being a problem. I can not say how helpful and caring everyone that I spoke to at plans and was assured that there would be NO problems as long as she was not over the max allowed salary amount. When I asked about getting something in writing about the pre-existing condition, I was told there was nothing to put in writing as pre-existing conditions WERE covered!

My Ex-Brother In Law is retired from MEBA, he took the cash lump sum buy out. IIRC, he pays over $400.00 per month for him and his wife for medical. From what he says he has been happy with it but neither one of them have had to really use it for anything but well care. I will be seeing him tomorrow (we kept him in the Divorce) and I’ll ask him for some more info on what’s covered. I do remember both him and my sister complaining about them playing games when it came to paying bills for their children. This was years ago so things may be much different now.

I know that a lot of people bitch about AMO and some of it’s deserved, they have been great to me and my Pension is on par with what friends have received when comparing wage and years of service.

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What tug companies are on AMO contracts?

I was with Maritrans and then OSG when they took over. I believe the Docking Company that used to be SeaBulk is AMO also.

With them laying boats up and the scaping of the Navigator and her Barge, they have two crews adding up to 40 men laid off, as far as I know.

Yeah, generally my family is healthy so I’m not entirely concerned at this point, We dropped my wife’s insurance a bit ago to save 800 a month through her employer but I’m thinking we may re-enroll in hers when it comes time for open enrollment.

My family is healthy as well, it’s more the unexpected medical emergency that I tend to worry about. I kept my wife on here insurance as well, but I will probably get back on on the next cycle.

What union are we talking about. I believe MEBA does have a catastrophe clause. I want to say 5k a year

Also the Oakland hall has a dentist free to members. Been there for over 40 years at least

The brotherhood of the sea of course!

I retired from the SIU 9 years ago at 56. The inland contracts I worked for 24 years had the top tier insurance and wage related pension. The insurance premiums were company paid while shipping. A year after I retired, the pensioner rate kicked in . I dropped down one level of coverage and premiums are $100 a month per dependent. The coverage I had was better than any insurance I had before I joined the union. Spouses scripts ain’t covered for pensioners.

Back when obamacare was looming, I had the foresight to accelerate my dental work before it kicked in. The plan paid for over half of a $9K bill. Coverage has diminished to an 80/20 now and I’m not sure about dental coverage.

As I’m turning 65 this year, I got the insurance guide in the mail. Many changes with obamacare guidelines. Coverage is 80/20, script coverage is less, BUT HEY!! transgender surgery is covered!!LOL!!

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$9000 in dental care would cost about $2000 in Mexico or Thailand. It’s high quality too. Insurance never pays over 50% and most policies max out at $3000 a year.

Google union and health care Cadillac plan tax and see who was objecting to it.