| Author |
 Topic  |
|
tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 1:05:58 PM
|
| I feel bad for the retirees but the law is what the law. I believe that people need to do their own research and not just accept what people say (especially those that they may not trust anyways) or what they thought they heard them say. I'll give you an example. I could have sworn that I heard Melissa say that the city's FY13 MWRA assessments went up 10%, almost twice what it actually went up, at a meeting earlier this year. I had to go back and watch the entire meeting again because I didn't realize that it wasn't said until the very end of the meeting. Turns out, it wasn't her; it was actually one of the aldermen, someone that should have a better handle on the numbers than that. |
 |
|
|
kittycat
Member
66 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 1:26:16 PM
|
| I can tell you this, the retirees are speaking to a lawyer about filing a class action law suit against the city, Melissa and the mayor. |
|
|
|
tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 2:09:11 PM
|
| I don't want to get into a fight over this. But going back to the first post in this topic, it appears that the city currently has two Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans. As I understand it, only the Master Medical Plan is being eliminated. Are there really doctors that will only accept the more expensive plan? |
|
|
|
kittycat
Member
66 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 2:29:45 PM
|
You do not get the same flexibility with blue care plan and a master care. Now you can only go see preferred providers rather than your choice. The master care emergency room visits are all covered, under blue care they are not. There are deductibles. So the retirees pay more copays and emergency visits and meds so they will hesitate on going to the emergency room because they dont have the 100 bucks is going to cost them now. The fact is retirees were told by Melissa that nothing would change for 3 years and they are grandfathered in. Melissa needs to tell it like it is and not just say what people want to hear then go and break your word anyway with her oh well attitude.
|
|
|
|
tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 2:31:17 PM
|
| Thanks for the info. |
|
|
|
justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
 Posted - 05/10/2012 : 11:21:20 PM
|
kittycat............There's something here I just don't understand....... In the long run, how much of a difference does it really make if the change is made effective 7/1/12 or 7/1/15?
From personal experience dealing with an elderly parent, I can testify to two things:
1) The older he gets, the more resistant he's become to change
2) As he's aged, he has more difficulty learning & understanding new things.
(As I've gotten older I also see this in myself & my husband)
I know any changes that are going to affect his medical care are going to be upsetting & disturbing to him therefore; we might as well get it over with as soon as possible. I don't think he's that much different from others in his age group (mid 80's) and with that in mind, I don't understand why it's such a big deal.
|
|
|
|
Randy
Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 07:38:10 AM
|
I'm a retired Everett employee currently living in Florida. I'm currently on BC/BS PPO which is the only insurance Everett has where one can use out of state. Cost have been on the rise throughout this recession. Upon coming to Florida to retire, I had to change every single insurance I had. Car, Auto, Health etc.. The problem I had was finding a doctor from the USA. Avoiding all these test, such as Xray, Bloodtest, Breathing, etc. There are a lot of strange people over here calling themselves doctors. The CoPay is expensive if you let the doctor take advantage of you. I am divorced so I do not have the freedom to change my health insurance or switch it to my new wife. My new wife retired from the State and I am unable to switch unless The City of Everett takes my insurance away. Every move I take to revise my insurance puts me into contempt with a chance of putting me in jail and costly lawyer fees. The State of Massachusetts is literally forcing the city to pay for this crazyness along with myself.
When I worked in Germany many years ago I discovered I was covered for medical insurance and full dental when I worked there.
The high cost of fuel there also contributed to the medical profession. Here in the USA one person would have to cover the entire family regardless who worked or not with no deductions taken from each workers paycheck. This made the one person and insurance company liable to cover the entire family. I also yet to find full dental coverage insurance here in the USA.
I'm going to try to make an example of what is also wrong with our insurance system. The Law Enforcement Departments throughout the USA use computers to share information. Unlike hospitals they keep the information within enabling fraud, such as wrong credentials, malpractice, infections, falsifying perscriptions, etc. costing the insurance companys billions. To understand what our City is up against is a delima that is uncontrollable and either groups need to be formed to present this to a Judiciary meeting for some solution that has gone completely haywire. |
|
|
|
Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 09:35:01 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Randy
I'm a retired Everett employee currently living in Florida. I'm currently on BC/BS PPO which is the only insurance Everett has where one can use out of state. Cost have been on the rise throughout this recession. Upon coming to Florida to retire, I had to change every single insurance I had. Car, Auto, Health etc.. The problem I had was finding a doctor from the USA. Avoiding all these test, such as Xray, Bloodtest, Breathing, etc. There are a lot of strange people over here calling themselves doctors. The CoPay is expensive if you let the doctor take advantage of you. I am divorced so I do not have the freedom to change my health insurance or switch it to my new wife. My new wife retired from the State and I am unable to switch unless The City of Everett takes my insurance away. Every move I take to revise my insurance puts me into contempt with a chance of putting me in jail and costly lawyer fees. The State of Massachusetts is literally forcing the city to pay for this crazyness along with myself.
When I worked in Germany many years ago I discovered I was covered for medical insurance and full dental when I worked there.
The high cost of fuel there also contributed to the medical profession. Here in the USA one person would have to cover the entire family regardless who worked or not with no deductions taken from each workers paycheck. This made the one person and insurance company liable to cover the entire family. I also yet to find full dental coverage insurance here in the USA.
I'm going to try to make an example of what is also wrong with our insurance system. The Law Enforcement Departments throughout the USA use computers to share information. Unlike hospitals they keep the information within enabling fraud, such as wrong credentials, malpractice, infections, falsifying perscriptions, etc. costing the insurance companys billions. To understand what our City is up against is a delima that is uncontrollable and either groups need to be formed to present this to a Judiciary meeting for some solution that has gone completely haywire.
That is very helpful information Randy, thank you…. especially for retirees that are considering moving out of Massachusetts.
I wonder if anyone from the City of Everett thought about retirees that live out of state and how this new policy will affect them.
The City of Everett should know that only the BC covered retirees that live out of state…and they go and eliminate it anyway?? These are more questions that need to be asked!
|
|
|
|
tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 11:15:24 AM
|
| By law, the retirees were supposed to have a representative designated by the Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association on the committee that negotiated this agreement. If that happened, it seems that either the representative was unaware of some of the concerns city's retirees or weren't able to get their message across strongly enough to the other parties involved in the negotiations. |
|
|
|
justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 3:45:16 PM
|
Does anyone know what it's being replaced with or that it's replacement won't cover out of state retirees? I saw the letter & it gives no information on what other plans will be available, only that they are eliminating Blue Cross/Blue Shield Master Medical.
Maybe everyone should chill until ALL the information is made available? |
|
|
|
Randy
Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 7:41:43 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by justme
Does anyone know what it's being replaced with or that it's replacement won't cover out of state retirees? I saw the letter & it gives no information on what other plans will be available, only that they are eliminating Blue Cross/Blue Shield Master Medical.
Maybe everyone should chill until ALL the information is made available?
Master Medical is a bad plan that doesnt cover physicals and could get you killed. BC/BS PPO is what you want and can be used everywhere. My biggest fear is if we lose that. I simply cannot afford to live in Massachusetts and live in Florida. |
|
|
|
Middle-Man 1
Senior Member
188 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 8:32:07 PM
|
| Chill is the right thing to do. The City / Mayor offered a plan with $20 doctors visit/script co-pays and NO yearly deductible. They also set up a mitigation fund/reimbursement account to assist with 50% of the emergency room charges and x-ray/imaging costs and an optional employee funded flex spending account. Is this out of line with what others in private business are paying? I think not. It's still a damn good deal just not quite as good and as costly to the city as before. The retirees had a rep in the negotiations. The City was very fair here all things considered. They could have simply opted into the GIC like Somerville, Salem and many other cities did. That would have been something to complain about. |
|
|
|
Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 8:47:28 PM
|
There’s a Health Fair on Thursday May 17th from 10:00am – 5:00pm in the Keverian Room 3rd floor. Representatives will be there to answer questions.
There are also Information Sessions in the Keverian Room on:
Monday, May 14th from 2:00-7:00pm
Monday, May 21st from 2:00-7:00pm
Tuesday, May 29th from 2:00-7:00pm
If anyone has concerns or questions, they should attend one of these sessions.
|
|
|
|
justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2012 : 08:55:24 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Randy
quote:
Originally posted by justme
Does anyone know what it's being replaced with or that it's replacement won't cover out of state retirees? I saw the letter & it gives no information on what other plans will be available, only that they are eliminating Blue Cross/Blue Shield Master Medical.
Maybe everyone should chill until ALL the information is made available?
Master Medical is a bad plan that doesnt cover physicals and could get you killed. BC/BS PPO is what you want and can be used everywhere. My biggest fear is if we lose that. I simply cannot afford to live in Massachusetts and live in Florida.
Randy, I really hate to sound unkind but based on this post, it sounds like you're a snowbird with homes in Florida & Massachusetts. If that's the case, I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for your plight.
I'm much more concerned with those retirees who's healthcare may suffer because they are unable to afford the care they need. It appears you would be able to handle healthcare costs with a change to your current lifestyle if things became financially difficult. I'm sure you worked hard in order to have both homes & I'm not trying to negate that. I only want to point out that there are many retirees who also worked hard but were less fortunate therefore have fewer options. Your choice may be to sell or rent one of your homes while theirs is to eat or not...........
Does the City give retirees cost of living increases? |
|
|
|
Randy
Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2012 : 10:57:15 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by justme
quote:
Originally posted by Randy
quote:
Originally posted by justme
Does anyone know what it's being replaced with or that it's replacement won't cover out of state retirees? I saw the letter & it gives no information on what other plans will be available, only that they are eliminating Blue Cross/Blue Shield Master Medical.
Maybe everyone should chill until ALL the information is made available?
Master Medical is a bad plan that doesnt cover physicals and could get you killed. BC/BS PPO is what you want and can be used everywhere. My biggest fear is if we lose that. I simply cannot afford to live in Massachusetts and live in Florida.
Randy, I really hate to sound unkind but based on this post, it sounds like you're a snowbird with homes in Florida & Massachusetts. If that's the case, I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for your plight.
I'm much more concerned with those retirees who's healthcare may suffer because they are unable to afford the care they need. It appears you would be able to handle healthcare costs with a change to your current lifestyle if things became financially difficult. I'm sure you worked hard in order to have both homes & I'm not trying to negate that. I only want to point out that there are many retirees who also worked hard but were less fortunate therefore have fewer options. Your choice may be to sell or rent one of your homes while theirs is to eat or not...........
Does the City give retirees cost of living increases?
First of all I am not a snowbird I permanantly live in Florida now.
Since I'm a Veteran I got a house for for at least half of what it would cost me in Massachusetts and I live in a gated senior community. When I lived in Massachusetts in a apartment, I was paying at least twice as much as my mortgage here. So please dont jump at me for my lifestyle, because buying a house for the same price in Massachusetts would get me a shack.
As far as what I was trying to say is Master Medical is not a good plan compared to BC/BS PPO. Physicals cost over $800. Compared to using a co-pay on the PPO. Sadly there is a way around using this Master Medical to get a physical, and that to say you have a cold, virus, etc to bypass getting a physical. This could get us in trouble. I'm not trying to sell you Florida because they have faults. With all the fraud that is happening it doesnt surprise me why the cost are up on medical insurance. If the insurance cost are hurting the city I'm sure they must realize its hurting the people twice as bad. Now receiving the letter from the city for the health subscriber the way I interpreted it is BC/BS representatives will be there at the Health Fair to answer questions. So it is my belief that its only Master Medical they want to do away with and not the HMO or PPO part of BC/BS. Somehow I think you got our signals crossed somehow about something I am unable to understand about how you feel about my statement. I'm more focused on the insuance company then the City Of Everett. Watching the news in Florida saying they literally supply Massachusetts illegal drug trade with pain killers. This has impacted many families including mine. So since the city of Everett has fought tooth and nail with their employees about medical insurance as far back as the Gov. Dukakis administration, I'm sure this is a losing battle for ALL OF US.
Also do you think its fair for the city and taxpayers to pay for my divorced spouses health insurance with no children and she is able to get health insurance from where she currently works? Our personal director is also doing the same paying for her ex spouse. Should check with the City Soliciter about this one to save $$$$.
|
Edited by - Randy on 05/12/2012 11:21:47 AM |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Who we pay Health Insurance for
