Our healthcare is a joke, I'm on the verge of bankruptcy trying to keep up w medical bills incurred since my son was diagnosed w a lifelong condition. After 300 plus a month in premiums a $500 dollar deductible and 15% coinsurance till the $2500 out of pocket reached ( which I have) how can a person on a FedEx courier salary afford this? I make over $21hr and my husband does decent w his small construction business(no healthcare avail) and we r swimming in credit card debt just to feed the family and keep what we have! How's does anyone just starting out a FedEx have a chance? Even though I've reached the $2500 out of pocket, I found out copays and prescriptions will still be my responsibility. His condition will require weekly visit to a specialist for the next few months at minimum the drs have said, at $50 a visit that is going to cripple our family's budget plus his prescriptions amount to over $200 a month. I foresee this year alone our medical to be over 10k Heaven forbid I, my husband,or one of my other two children become ill! ( would be required to pay another deductible and 15%) I talked to my mgr bout this he has no clue how poor our insurance is he blamed Obama. Do you think fed ex had PSP in mind when they decided our copay to the dr would be more than the avg hourly wage of a courier and a specialist would be over twice the hourly wage? I'd ask in our SFA feedback meeting but we never had one and were told no meeting hrs are available until further notice. Does anyone know of any part time jobs(besides ups) that might offer decent healthcare benefits? Does anyone know or think obamacare will offer something better than the sheet fedex does?
Fed ex health plan not much of a benefit
- Thread starter Bankrupt
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Uh I am a contractor for FedEx ground. As a contractor I am eligible for NO health benefits and the cost of an individual plan is obscenely expensive. I have no preexisting conditions either. I live in MA where I am considered too rich for the subsidized plan so I must purchase the cheapest plan offered thru the state exchange at just under $300 a month with $5000 annual deductible., no brand Rx coverage,something like 30% coinsurance. Consider yourself lucky. I don't mean this the wrong way but can't your husband learn a trade like plumbing or electrician . Entry level apprentices are making $26 an hour with no experience in the Boston area. I am 38 so I can't start over but if you or your husband is younger than 35 you guys have more options
SmithBarney
Well-Known Member
Every doctor we've been to, is shocked at how high our co-pay is. FedEx is fleecing us with this group health plan.
$5000 annual deductible, who could afford that? We r in the south so wages here are nothin like the $26 hr u r describing. Obviously someone somewhere always has it worse but I wouldn't consider myself lucky. I once worked for a company that provided excellent insurance where I paid reasonable affordable premiums and received excellent coverage those days are long gone obviously. I'm in my late thirties and be with fedex over 15 yrs I guess I'm lucky I'm not just starting here trying to make ends meet or support a family. My husband must continue to work for himself so he can take off as needed for our son. I ve takin a lot of vacation days and even several no pay Fmla days over the past year
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
I'm sorry to hear about your child. We can only wait and see what the ObamaCare will produce. I know the GOP is trying for the 37th to repeal it. Most of them have enough money and great insurance to feel the need to try once again eliminating healthcare for everyone. But maybe this could be a start to something. Maybe you would consider writing the heads of fedx and tell them of your situation and that maybe it be better served to drop the United Way donations program and create something just to benefit employees of the company only. Something like a Fedx employee group fund where employees have 10 or 20 dollars deducted from their check to be put in a savings. You must donate to be a participant. Imagine the amount of employees willing to be involved knowing their money would be going to help one of theirs and not so some Head in the United way can drive around in his Maybach or bugatti. Yeah, law says on 4 cents of every dollar donated has to be use for helping others. The rest of the .96 cent is profit for the United way. We're too large in numbers for someone a lot smarter to have not already have this in place. I would love to know the company just cut someone a check for their medical bills..no strings.
Again I hope things somehow get better for you and your family.
Again I hope things somehow get better for you and your family.
Try having no insurance and having to pay $500 or more just to see a doctor for 15 minutes. There are people who have no insurance. No doctor or hospital will treat you without insurance unless you put up a huge amount of cash upfront
Many FedEx ground and HD employees in NY can get Medicaid. In ny Medicaid is the best in the country
As part of the insurance that I purchase thru the exchange copay is $50 along with the $5000 deductible 30% coinsurance. This is a state version of what the ACA will be on a national scale high priced with limited or inferior benefits
Thank you, you are exactly right about our sisters and brothers at FedEx at least at my station and I'm sure many others, after his 2nd or 3rd hospitalization I received a generous donation from my peers when I returned to work. They even bought him toys and gifts for my other 2 children to bring a smile to us during difficult times. Those are the "people" of FedEx I respect
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Yes, they are. The OP makes some excellent points.
Wait until ACA is fully implemented. Mass already has the state version. High priced, lots of exclusions, set up so the insurance companies have free rein to raise rates to obscene levels. In the Boston area you have some of the best hospitals and doctors but none of them accept anything on the state list of coverage options which start at $300 a month and can go well into the thousands
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
I would also assume you're correct.
We're talking about Fred and his team of weasels.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Our insurance plans are a complete joke. We basically help Fred subsidize his self-insurance medical and dental scam with ultra-high premiums and ridiculous deductibles. The OP makes the very valid point that you can be "insured" at FedEx, and still go bankrupt because the plans are a joke. Express management always uses terminology like "we offer industry-leading plans at reasonable cost". Really? That is total CRAP, because Fred pawns-off every cost he possibly can onto the employee and then whines that "health care costs are skyrocketing, and the employee needs to share the responsibility".
Again...more BS. While health care costs are certainly rising, Fred is shifting a much higher proportion of the burden onto employees. In other words, FedEx shifts more "responsibility" onto the employee every year. The net effect of this is far less take-home pay, or simply put, a defacto takeaway that can kill a family financially, especially if someone has a serious medical condition. I totally understand where the OP is coming from because I know of several other employees in the exact same situation. If you have a family member who sees multiple doctors and needs specialized tests often, you are up Sheet Creek without a paddle, because YOUR share of the costs will be ridiculous. Add to this the fact that CIGNA and/or Anthem frequently challenge bills, or refuse to pay charges that are "above customary and prevalent rates" or whatever that BS line is that they always use. The translation is that CIGNA and Anthem won't pay regular rates, and then they try and negotiate what they WILL pay down to a point where providers don't even want to deal with them. How many doctors won't even take CIGNA or Anthem these days... a lot.
Just another reason that FedEx sucks. No employee should have to get assistance from fellow employees just to cover medical costs THAT SHOULD ALREADY BE COVERED!!!!!
overflowed
Well-Known Member
All the girls at the different doctor, dental, especially specialists say the same to me.
ManInBrown
Well-Known Member
I am assuming co-pays are still the same as they were when I left Express in late April.
25.00 Primary physician
45.00 Specialist
In all honesty I thought it was kind of high also. So the last time I visited my primary before I quit asked the person in billing how my co-pay stacked up against other co-pays she sees every day. She said not bad at all. People have 35.00-50.00 PCP co-pays now.
Of course that is just for regular visits to primary or specialists. Something more severe happens then it's a problem. I'm currently paying 500.00 a month for Cobra
I am assuming co-pays are still the same as they were when I left Express in late April.
25.00 Primary physician
45.00 Specialist
In all honesty I thought it was kind of high also. So the last time I visited my primary before I quit asked the person in billing how my co-pay stacked up against other co-pays she sees every day. She said not bad at all. People have 35.00-50.00 PCP co-pays now.
Of course that is just for regular visits to primary or specialists. Something more severe happens then it's a problem. I'm currently paying 500.00 a month for Cobra
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ManInBrown
Well-Known Member
10+ years at express. Just couldn't waste anymore of my life there. Once the raises came to a halt the last few years and it was nothing but excuses I knew it was time to get out. And I loved new hires walking in the door making pennies less then me. What a great company. LOL. You cannot afford to live where I live in the country being an Express courier. Doesn't work. Turned into the epitome of a dead end job.
Thankfully I had my children when maternity was 100% coverage after initial ob/gyn visit, now you are expected to pay each time u have an appt, the dr likes to see you weekly usually in the final month, pray there are no complications or you'll be like me bankrupt over medical bills. I guess Fred doesn't believe his employees have the right to procreate now! " I ll show them they won't be able to afford babies and I won't have to cover the costs or their routes" That sexist prick!
thedownhillEXPRESS
Well-Known Member
Yes, I'm sure they just have not been confronted with medical issues like your own.
HR leaves the managers pretty much clueless as to what our medical plans are, exactly for the reason you just gave.Plausible deniabilty.
People read the "2500 maximum out of pocket" and think "hey, thats pretty bad but I can cover it".However like you are finding out, the fine print tells you the truth of it all and a person can quickly discover they may be out 10 grand(or more) a year along with constantly battling the provider for covering services.
As for the manager blaming "Obamacare", that is a crock of crap.
Obamacare is gradually being phased in and sets caps by income for real maximum out of pockets to try and deal with this disgusting trickery by employers and the insurance companies.
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