HALF THE BENEFITS AT TWICE THE COST

MEDICAL BENEFITS GO UNUSED
DELTA EMPLOYEES PREFER CHANCING DEATH

Have you read the last correspondence from Delta concerning health care costs incurred last year by Delta employees? The good news is that Delta employees have not used as much of their benefits provided by Delta during the last fiscal year and will be able to roll over the unused portion for next year. As stated by Delta, nearly 60% of “participants have used less than half of their Health Reimbursement Account.”

On its face, this sounds like very good news for Delta and the participants of the Healthcare program. However, one should not be too hasty in analyzing this data and drawing any conclusions. Why aren’t Delta employees using their Health care benefits as much as they used to? Perhaps going to the Doctor under the terms of Delta’s program is costly and financially prohibitive. Delta is beside themselves with joy and pride about lowering their own internal costs and sees the statistics as some sort of accomplishment.

The employees we are talking with have a different perspective. The out of pocket expenses incurred under this United Healthcare program are punitive and excessive; many employees simply can’t afford the deductible and co-pay amounts and avoid any contact with their doctors. Illnesses that happen late in the year which become expensive are not fair because once the year ends, the deductible and co-pay requirements are renewed even though the illness or injury is the same.

Employees simply can’t afford to double pay for the same afflictions; Heads of households are ignoring their own medical maladies and are sacrificing for their own families, causing illnesses to fester and become life-threatening tragedies.

We know of many Delta employees that have had to make hard decisions about where to spend their money and have paid the ultimate price by sacrificing their own health and in some cases their lives for the financial stability of their families.

Delta should be careful about lauding themselves over a medical benefit program that seems to be working financially for them and their coffers when the reality is that the general health of Americans has not dramatically improved statistically over time. What parameters and measuring instruments is Delta utilizing in making a determination that their healthcare program is good for Delta’s families?

When you cut an employee’s salary and raise the individual cost of his or her premiums and healthcare costs what outcome other than disaster should anyone expect?

This is not a success story for Delta’s families or her workers; this is a recipe for pain, sorrow and ultimate death. Delta is not fooling those of us who suffer from medical challenges, financial stress and monetary pressure.

Please brag about something else; our families are stressed, sick and in need of fair and competitive healthcare coverage; not platitudes that are meaningless and insulting.

Let's begin to negotiate fair and sustaining medical benefits that support and enrich the quality of our lives; we need the professional backing that an IAM contract can provide our families and our future. Why not now, why not forever?