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contract raise

Kelp

New member
last fall, when the contract was approved, with a 1.3% raise for the year, several people thought it was a great deal.  with that, we got to pay an additional 1% of our health premium.  of course , it was pointed out how the 1% of premiums, would be less than 1.3% of salary.  my $180 a pay period, times 26 pay periods a year, equals $4680.  that being approximately, 1/4 the total premium of $18720.  the 1.3% of $60k equals $780.

    the catch, comes in with blue cross announcing a 63% increase in premiums next year.  @ 63%, the increase on $18720, would be,  $11893, or a total of $30513.  our now 26% of that will become $7933., or $305 a pay period.  keep in mind, cola raises don't include insurance in there calculations, so we're comparing a $780 raise, to a $7900 expense.  if this all falls in line, we just had a 10% net salary cut.

    the 63% figure came from talk radio, dave ramsey, based in tennessee. do our negotiating personal, get 100% of their health premiums covered? or are they just that incompetent?
 
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<div>I have not looked into the accuracy of your statement. However, I have heard enough comments from Rural Carriers over the years to know this.</div>
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<div>Most Rural Carriers will tell you what the union tells you to believe. The union will tell you what the Postal Service leadership tells them. The Postal Service leadership will tell you what the businesses that can make money out of it tell them.</div>
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<div>If we show them wrong they just change the story slightly and we fall for that.</div>
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OPM has published the 2017 rates. <a href="https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information/premiums/" target="_blank">https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information/premiums/</a>  It looks like Blue Cross nationwide high self plus family is $233.17 per pay check in 2017 vs $211.10 in 2016. Not as bad as you thought but it still will kill the general wage increase by two third. BUT we did get that whopping $21.00 cola too.... ugh!
 
People were told to vote to ratify the contract. Like lemmings being lead off of a cliff, they did it. Now they're going to start griping about the contract and it's minuscule raises.
 
Really? A  63% increase? And you believed that? I'm pretty sure you'll find that the Avg. increase in healthcare premiums for this year is about 6.2%
 
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<a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/industries/health-care/2016/06/10/tennessee-exchange-rate-requests-2017/85569454/" target="_blank">http://www.tennessean.com/stor...../85569454/</a>

he said 63% percent on the radio, but it's close enough that the exaggeration doesn't matter. 

do you believe it? read it for yourself,  and yes, i do believe this, and that our contract sucks, as well.

also in the article - For comparison, Humana of Georgia is asking for an average 65.2 percent increase. 

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It's no where near close!   6.2% (that's 6 point 2) percent not 63%

6.2 percent of $100 is $6.20

63 percent of $100 is $63.00

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<blockquote class="spPostEmbedQuote"><strong>MiddleOfNowhere said </strong>
last fall, when the contract was approved, with a 1.3% raise for the year, several people thought it was a great deal.  with that, we got to pay an additional 1% of our health premium.  of course , it was pointed out how the 1% of premiums, would be less than 1.3% of salary.</blockquote>
Well, first of all, we didn't ratify the contract last fall. We didn't have knowledge of any raises last fall because we were starting arbitration. Last year we did have a big jump in premiums and supposedly it shouldn't be as large this year. 

Even with it rising a little (9-12% is the word), the PO pays a huge portion of the actual premiums. Have you checked the cost of health insurance without the PO involvement? No thanks! Although I am healthy and have always been, my hubby isn't. It was quite difficult to find a Dr who would take us without insurance. 
 
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<span style="text-decoration: underline">charlie brown wrote   It's no where near close!   6.2% (that's 6 point 2) percent not 63%</span> -

 you obviously didn't click on the link,  it is 62%, not 6.2, and this follows last years 36.3 increase for bsbc of tennessee.

and yes, i do know what health insurance costs, and the po pays approximately 3/4 of our premiums.  i doubt you can find a doctor that will take you for more than emergency care without insurance.  i also believe that by the time our 3 year contract is up, the raises we receive, will have more than all been absorbed by insurance premium increases.  nationwide, it was reported that income rose 5.3% last year.  we get less than that for three years.  the manipulated cola amounts to squat.  i also noticed that the monthly premiums for retirees are in the $12-1300  range.  what do you suppose they'll be in 10 years.  our pensions won't even cover it.

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The link you posted is about the federally run insurance program (Obamacare) not the FEHB program (Postal)

Postal employees are covered under the FEHB and if you google what the avg. increase in FEHB premiums is

going to be for 2016 you'll see that the avg. is 6.2% not 63%  or 45%  or anything close to that.

I do agree that health care costs are crazy but too many people are afraid to do what the vast majority of

first world industrialized nations have done and make it like they have in England, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, Australia and many, many more.

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that 6.2% was for 2016, the 2017 rates are going to be very close to an 11% raise.  ( for the postal plan), the problem with the whole concept falls to the fact that employers that provide insurance, are going to raise their prices to cover this increase to stay operating in the black.  when you look at 2016 increases for private practice plans, at 36% and add 2017's 62% increase, people will have to make decisions, on what they can purchase.  the cost of our plans will follow.  (there aren't any talk radio shows, that are going to talk about postal health rates, that i know of, anyway)
 
I see that the actual FEHB increase will be about 4.4% but as you pointed out earlier we get to pay an additional 1% more of our total contribution towards the health care costs. (aprx. 11% combined) That's 1% more each year of the contract, thanks NRLCA!
 
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