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TForce | Pay bump for bottom and new hires

BusterNite said:
I retired last year at 59 years old. I have all the health care benefits i had when i was working except a little better with the RU plan. Medical, Dental, Prescription and Vision. I pay $250 per month and can keep the plan until Medicare kicks in at age 65. These benefits are great. Shop around and you will see. This plan would cost you roughly $1100 per month if you had to purchase on your own.
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The RU retiree plan has an annual limit of $250,000. It wouldn't take long to run up that yearly maximum with 1 catastrophic incident.They can get away with this annual limit Cap because it is a "retiree " plan and not an "active " employee plan. Check the SPD.
 
carhauler said:
The RU retiree plan has an annual limit of $250,000. It wouldn't take long to run up that yearly maximum with 1 catastrophic incident.They can get away with this annual limit Cap because it is a "retiree " plan and not an "active " employee plan. Check the SPD.
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You make a good point here and peaked my interest about this subject because i did have a major medical incident last November and wanted to see how much was paid out of my annual benefit limit. After all the negotiated bills were paid which was just over the 250,000 limit the actual deduction was $90,000 paid from the $250.000 although i can see where this would add up quickly the longer you stay in the hospital at an average cost of $2,500 to $12,000 per day stay depending on where you live. After researching retiree healthcare plans the average annual limitations seems to be between $230,000 to $290,000 per year. Laws are set in place where healthcare plan providers cannot set annual benefit limits on employee based plans but does not apply to retiree plans. Definitely something wrong with this law.
 
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Gater said:
We had 2 guys who quit after 2-3 months. The went to ABF for higher wage, no cost health insurance through the local union and a $5k sign on bonus.
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Our guys start out at a higher rate, but you guys top out much higher. As of July 1st, we top out at $26.21 per hour, but ABF does fully fund our pension and insurance at a rate of just under $20.00 per hour. A few years back, we had a guy looking to freeze his retirement (age requirements) so he could resign and draw his pension when he was old enough to get it (57). He was doing very well building houses and decided to do it full time. when he went to his insurance agent to check on getting insurance for him and his wife, he showed the agent the health insurance plan he currently had with Central States. The agent then asked him if ABF was hiring so he could get the health insurance that they offered.
 
BusterNite said:
You make a good point here and peaked my interest about this subject because i did have a major medical incident last November and wanted to see how much was paid out of my annual benefit limit. After all the negotiated bills were paid which was just over the 250,000 limit the actual deduction was $90,000 paid from the $250.000 although i can see where this would add up quickly the longer you stay in the hospital at an average cost of $2,500 to $12,000 per day stay depending on where you live. After researching retiree healthcare plans the average annual limitations seems to be between $230,000 to $290,000 per year. Laws are set in place where healthcare plan providers cannot set annual benefit limits on employee based plans but does not apply to retiree plans. Definitely something wrong with this law.
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BusterNite,
I couldn't agree with you more.
So, after the negotiated rates were applied the the actual charges, $90,000 was taken from the annual limit of $250,000 which left you with $160,000 remaining of your annual limit? So the actual charges were just over 250k but the insurance paid out actually 90k? Did I work the the math properly or am I off. It Can give a person quite an uneasy feeling if they have chronic health issues. Quite an atrocity that when the annual limit cap on active plans was made illegal, the same did not apply for retiree plans. What's a retiree to do? Gamble? Or is there
Someway to get a rider that would just cover the (what if this happened?) Catastrophic event if it happened above and beyond 250K?
BusterNite, if you do any more research and come up with some info. Please post it or message me. Thank you sir.
 
Steward of the Rock said:
Our guys start out at a higher rate, but you guys top out much higher. As of July 1st, we top out at $26.21 per hour, but ABF does fully fund our pension and insurance at a rate of just under $20.00 per hour. A few years back, we had a guy looking to freeze his retirement (age requirements) so he could resign and draw his pension when he was old enough to get it (57). He was doing very well building houses and decided to do it full time. when he went to his insurance agent to check on getting insurance for him and his wife, he showed the agent the health insurance plan he currently had with Central States. The agent then asked him if ABF was hiring so he could get the health insurance that they offered.
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Rumor is that our top pay at ABF should be much higher after next contract what is your opinion on this.
 
carhauler said:
BusterNite,
I couldn't agree with you more.
So, after the negotiated rates were applied the the actual charges, $90,000 was taken from the annual limit of $250,000 which left you with $160,000 remaining of your annual limit? So the actual charges were just over 250k but the insurance paid out actually 90k? Did I work the the math properly or am I off. It Can give a person quite an uneasy feeling if they have chronic health issues. Quite an atrocity that when the annual limit cap on active plans was made illegal, the same did not apply for retiree plans. What's a retiree to do? Gamble? Or is there
Someway to get a rider that would just cover the (what if this happened?) Catastrophic event if it happened above and beyond 250K?
BusterNite, if you do any more research and come up with some info. Please post it or message me. Thank you sir.
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You are correct with your math and since this happened in November the limit reset to $250,000 with the new year. I do not know about a rider but i will investigate further. Keep in mind that once you qualify for Medicare at age 65 you will no longer be able to keep the company retiree plan and at that point you will need to find a supplement health care plan.
 
Larrythethird said:
Rumor is that our top pay at ABF should be much higher after next contract what is your opinion on this.
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This is just my opinion as I have not heard anything for sure, but I feel we will get a good bump in pay. Here is my thinking about it. Our pension is being paid at a rate of $342.00 per week. Before the Butch Lewis Act took effect, roughly $150.00 of that $342.00 was being used towards the obligation required by the MEPF to help fund the pensions of the so-called "orphan" companies that were no longer paying in to the MEPF. Now that the Butch Lewis Act is in place, ABF should be relieved of that obligation. That should free up that $150.00 per week to be used towards other parts of our next contract (pay, benefits) and still maintain the pension but at a rate closer to the $200 per week mark as the other (orphan) companies will now be funded by the Butch Lewis Act. Again, this is just me speculating and my opinion, but I think our 2023 contract will see a big improvement in pay. I apologize to all of you T-Forcers for taking up time on your board to answer this question.
 
BusterNite said:
You are correct with your math and since this happened in November the limit reset to $250,000 with the new year. I do not know about a rider but i will investigate further. Keep in mind that once you qualify for Medicare at age 65 you will no longer be able to keep the company retiree plan and at that point you will need to find a supplement health care plan.
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Thank you very much BusterNite for the Medicare info. and the continued research on a "rider" possibility above the 250K RU plan annual limit. It really is a problem .
 
BusterNite said:
You are correct with your math and since this happened in November the limit reset to $250,000 with the new year. I do not know about a rider but i will investigate further. Keep in mind that once you qualify for Medicare at age 65 you will no longer be able to keep the company retiree plan and at that point you will need to find a supplement health care plan.
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After 65 you can choose between 1) standard Medicare plus a Supplemental plan to pick up what Medicare doesn't pay or 2) you can choose a Medicare Advantage plan which is like an HMO but can also cover prescriptions, eye glasses, etc. Do your homework before choosing.
 
Triplex said:
After 65 you can choose between 1) standard Medicare plus a Supplemental plan to pick up what Medicare doesn't pay or 2) you can choose a Medicare Advantage plan which is like an HMO but can also cover prescriptions, eye glasses, etc. Do your homework before choosing.
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Excellent information Triplex thank you very much! BusterNite and I were trying to figure out any way possible to supplement the 250k annual limit on the NU Retiree plan. A catastrophic event and that annual limit will be exceeded and you're screwed. I have done a lot of research and I cannot find any type of supplement for gap insurance (not sure what it would be called) for the under 65 person on the retiree plan. Retiree plans are not held to the same ACA rules as active employee plans as far as no cap on the annual limit. Do you have any idea of a supplement that one could buy to kick in if the 250k is maxed out in a calendar year?
 
Triplex said:
After 65 you can choose between 1) standard Medicare plus a Supplemental plan to pick up what Medicare doesn't pay or 2) you can choose a Medicare Advantage plan which is like an HMO but can also cover prescriptions, eye glasses, etc. Do your homework before choosing.
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I've had a Blue Cross HMO the past few years, it works ok for me.
Those supplement policies get very expensive as you age.
Do your research.
 
Steward of the Rock said:
This is just my opinion as I have not heard anything for sure, but I feel we will get a good bump in pay. Here is my thinking about it. Our pension is being paid at a rate of $342.00 per week. Before the Butch Lewis Act took effect, roughly $150.00 of that $342.00 was being used towards the obligation required by the MEPF to help fund the pensions of the so-called "orphan" companies that were no longer paying in to the MEPF. Now that the Butch Lewis Act is in place, ABF should be relieved of that obligation. That should free up that $150.00 per week to be used towards other parts of our next contract (pay, benefits) and still maintain the pension but at a rate closer to the $200 per week mark as the other (orphan) companies will now be funded by the Butch Lewis Act. Again, this is just me speculating and my opinion, but I think our 2023 contract will see a big improvement in pay. I apologize to all of you T-Forcers for taking up time on your board to answer this question.
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The $342 dollar a week pension payment will not be enough to maintain the current contract accrual rates. The accrual rate will have to be lowered to keep CSPF fully funded. No pension money was freed up by butch lewis. After an 86 billion dollar bail out, do you actually believe you are going to be able to run up another unfunded pension debt? Perhaps senators Brown and Portman could write a letter to the PBGC asking them how much pension will $342 dollars a week buy.
 
Banned for Life said:
The $342 dollar a week pension payment will not be enough to maintain the current contract accrual rates. The accrual rate will have to be lowered to keep CSPF fully funded. No pension money was freed up by butch lewis. After an 86 billion dollar bail out, do you actually believe you are going to be able to run up another unfunded pension debt? Perhaps senators Brown and Portman could write a letter to the PBGC asking them how much pension will $342 dollars a week buy.
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Not going to argue with you on the T Force forum, but just in case you did not know, ABF was the ONLY company still paying their full contribution requirement. You should know this as your company bailed out and left the rest of the companies in the MEPF's holding the bag. If you would like to discuss this further, start a thread on the ABF forum so we don't waste the T Force people's time with our squabble.
 
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carhauler said:
Excellent information Triplex thank you very much! BusterNite and I were trying to figure out any way possible to supplement the 250k annual limit on the NU Retiree plan. A catastrophic event and that annual limit will be exceeded and you're screwed. I have done a lot of research and I cannot find any type of supplement for gap insurance (not sure what it would be called) for the under 65 person on the retiree plan. Retiree plans are not held to the same ACA rules as active employee plans as far as no cap on the annual limit. Do you have any idea of a supplement that one could buy to kick in if the 250k is maxed out in a calendar year?
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Carhauler, I'm sorry but I'm not at all familiar with any retiree plan supplements of the type you're concerned about. My knowledge is pretty much about post 65 insurance - Medicare and and the like. Sorry.
 
carhauler said:
Excellent information Triplex thank you very much! BusterNite and I were trying to figure out any way possible to supplement the 250k annual limit on the NU Retiree plan. A catastrophic event and that annual limit will be exceeded and you're screwed. I have done a lot of research and I cannot find any type of supplement for gap insurance (not sure what it would be called) for the under 65 person on the retiree plan. Retiree plans are not held to the same ACA rules as active employee plans as far as no cap on the annual limit. Do you have any idea of a supplement that one could buy to kick in if the 250k is maxed out in a calendar year?
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I cannot find any type of supplement that would cover you if you exceeded the $250.000 limit. I have checked all the government plans (Obama care) and you could only enroll for a new plan which no one could even come close to offer what we have under the retirement RU plan although they all had one thing in common, no yearly annual limit cap. I checked Aflac to see what they offered and nothing they have is structured to only cover the annual limit. I also looked into catastrophic insurance coverage and that is for people under 30 years old who cannot afford health insurance. I did learn that the health care system is such a scam. When looking into insurance plans you will talk to many different people that will eventually lead to many licensed agents that will call you like a car salesman trying to sell you a plan. For the life of me I cannot understand why the laws were changed in 2014 to ban all annual dollar limits on all job related plans and individual plans but not a retiree plan and what is even worse is that it seems you cannot purchase a supplement to cover your self if you were to exceed the annual dollar limit. Sad to say that the choice is gamble and wait until your 65 years of age and hope that nothing catastrophic happens or purchase a more expensive plan from the Affordable care act websites or continue working until at least 65 years of age under a employee based plan.
 
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