There's also a second document with examples of how the new plan will work. (I've added both of these to Google Docs, where you can download them anonymously and at no cost.)
For the FAQ section on key plan changes, go to Page 10.
Of considerable interest
From Page 8 of the FAQ:
Question: What are the premiums for 2014?
Answer: Monthly contributions as follows:
- Employee only -- $90
- Plus spouse -- $436
- Plus child(ren) -- $392
- Family -- $575
- Rates the same across the company
- Rates no longer based on salary bands or geography
Without knowing what you currently pay per month, I can't say whether these new premiums equal the 20% to 50% increases I was told about earlier today.
This could really hurt
From Page 6 of the FAQ:
Question: How does a participant pay for a medical expense? Explain the process.
Answer: It apparently involves four steps, as follows.
This could really hurt
From Page 6 of the FAQ:
Question: How does a participant pay for a medical expense? Explain the process.
Answer: It apparently involves four steps, as follows.
- A participant has a health event, visits a pharmacy, or doctor for treatment.
- The participant is responsible for the full cost of his or her health care expenses until the deductible is met. The participant can choose to pay for the medical expense with available funds from their HSA or pay another way and let the HSA grow.
- Once the deductible is met, the plan coverage begins and the participant and the plan pay co-insurance.
- The participant is protected with an out-of-pocket limit. After that limit is reached, the plan pays 100% of covered expenses.
Clearly in this case, the dollar amount of your annual deductible is key to understanding your new effective annual medical costs.
We pay $320 a month right now for family coverage and next year we're going to $575??...Is the $575 the employee out of pocket monthly or is that the figure before Gannett kicks in its portion??...If not that's an almost 80% increase in premium for my family...And the $320 was already a little over 9% of my income now...So does that mean I'll be free to look to the exchanges then??
ReplyDeleteThat $575 is your monthly premium. Gannett pays an additional amount towards the premium on top of that.
DeleteYes you will be able to go to the exchange if its more than 9 percent. But Gannett is going to be charged $2000 for every one over that limit. But I don't think that kicks in yet fort them.
DeleteI'm quite certain that the figures above -- in your case, $575 -- are what the employee pays.
ReplyDeleteI can't answer your second question about eligibility for the exchanges, however.
$90 for single coverage lower than $150 you paid when you worked at USAT or the $900 you pay now. Wellness service still 100% paid. Not the old plan but heck those days are gone. Many companies are dumping their employees into the exchanges. Wait until you see those plans and premiums. Oh boy!!
DeleteIf I'm reading this correctly, I will be paying quite a bit more ($300 a month now goes to $436) and getting a lot less. Nothing covered until you hit the deductible? Oh, but start a health savings account in addition to paying way more for your premiums! Kinda want to cry now.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand this (so far), the real sticker shock will come from eliminating co-pays and requiring that employees meet the deductibles first before any real benefits kick in.
DeleteBut other readers may have a different take on this.
I can't help but to cry. It's extremely expensive for me anyway and now it will cost my family $575 per month on top of meeting a deductible.
DeleteI'm gonna go back to feeling like I did before I had health insurance: completely terrified of ever needing medical care.
Deletehow does this affect retirees?
ReplyDeleteI don't know about retirees because all I've received from readers are documents addressed to employees.
DeleteIt's addressed in FAQ.
Delete2:59 Here's the answer to your question: Most Gannett employees and retirees will move to the Consumer Choice Health Plan on Jan. 1, 2014. That's from Page 15 of the FAQ.
DeleteIf everybody is getting the same plan, why won't they tell us what the deductible is? That's key to figuring out how much things will be and I can't find it anywhere.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to me that the deductibles are $1,500 for individuals and $3,000 for families. That's in the second document offering examples.
DeleteThanks for that!
DeleteFor a family plan the deductible is $3000 with out of pocket expenses capped at $10,000...So you have to pay $3000 out of pocket before anything kicks in and after that you're responsible for 20% of your bills up to an additional $7000...No more co-pays, so theoretically you'd go the doctor and instead of your $35 dollar co-pay, you'll be handed a bill for the entire amount, say $500, if you haven't reached your deductible yet.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible for folks to moonlight at McDonald's or some place with a similar benefit plan? Perhaps they could get their first $10,000 paid for from the McD's insurance then use the Gannett insurance for the rest? I'm not really sure how insurance plans are structured, but would that be feasible?
ReplyDeleteAlmost all employers in those type of establishments are going to make sure their employees are not considered full time and therefore they will not offer benefits.
ReplyDeleteThere are several disturbing things about this new medical plan that I'll be writing about. But here's just one.
ReplyDeleteThe new premium pricing is not graduated according to how much you earn. Under the old plans, people who earned less, paid less, and people who earned more, paid more.
The change is right there on Page 10 of the FAQ: "Rates are the same across the company and are no longer based on salary bands or geography."
Doesn't that mean, for example, that a general manager making $200,000 a year will pay the same monthly premium as a clerk earning $9 an hour?
That would mean the clerk is spending a much higher percentage of his or her pay on medical costs than their far better-compensated boss.
Wow their insurance coverage was already the worst possible and they found a way to make it even worse
ReplyDeleteOh, it wasn't that bad. Plenty of other plans I know of were worse. But next year it's making up for it.
DeleteUsing a clerk making $9/hr as an example at 37.5 hours a week. Before tax is a take home of $675-take another 25% off in taxes, they are left at $506. Insurance then takes another $260 roughly, leaving a take home of $245 for 2 weeks work. Fill an expensive prescription with everything going to deductible and you have nothing left at all.
ReplyDeletePersonally I would do anything possible to get my ass fired and bum off the government since that's the cool thing to do now.
Thank God I no longer work for these idiots.
In your example with a biweekly pay period, where do you get the $260 for insurance?
Delete$575 per month x 12 months for a family plan. Divide by 26 pays=$265 per pay.
DeleteWill top executives get their own pampered health care account with no deductibles and pretty much a free ride? Lawyers worked overtime to figure out a way to push a good third of the company into the govt exchange program.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you after being laid off from Gannett and then getting hired outside of the media industry it is amazing how much better you are treated outside of Gannett. When you tell the people you work for what is done in Gannett and probably the rest of the media industry they are amazed that anyone would ever treat their employees so poorly.
ReplyDeleteSo much for the idea of family's going onto the exchanges..."Affordable" only takes into account the EMPLOYEE'S premium and whether or not it's 9.5% of their income...It doesn't matter how much more the family premium now is, we won't qualify for for the exchanges...It's a glitch that needs to be fixed but probably won't be in time for 2014 enrollment...$90 a month isn't going to exceed 9.5% of anyone's income...Thanks Gannett...You had to know this...Instead of sending employee's to the exchanges, ( which would be welcome), they've placed many of us in a position where covering our family's isn't affordable and we have no other options.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/23/aca-family-glitch-issues/2804017/
Coverage for me and my spouse will increase by about $200 a month! And my wife won't qualify for the exchanges based on our HOUSEHOLD income.
ReplyDeleteYou poor poor kids!
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty much exactly how Belo's plan works. It's not that bad. Stop being such entitled newspaper workers and see reality. HEALTH CARE IS EXPENSIVE AND YOU SHOULD PAY MORE. Duh.
I swear.
@1:12 - Health care is expensive and should cost less.
DeleteAnybody asked for details about how the HSAs will actually work, or does anybody out there have one already? I'm interested in whether they'll be structured for immediate withdrawals (debit card or checks)--if not, we'll actually have to save DOUBLE--enough to pay for the upfront cost of care (then get reimbursed from the HSA). I'm also concered about whether we'll be charged fees by Mellon (the bank that will hold the accounts), such as transaction fees, inactivity fees, etc.
ReplyDeleteMy spouse works for Gannett and when he started I thought they had great insurance. Working there isn't great but the insurance was worth it. He signed up for the POS plan because it was affordable and allowed him to go to the doctor when necessary.
ReplyDeleteThis new plan is complete crap. It's worse than what I have through my work. (Our plan is basically the same but our deductible and total out of pocket have only about a $500 difference.) Even with insurance, any High Deductible plan like this makes you avoid seeking medical treatment at all costs.
There is no way we could afford to add a kid to this and we can't add a kid to my plan. (I pay no premiums for myself but to add a kid is over $400/month.) When we have children we're pretty much like everyone else, screwed!