So You Think You’re Covered?

CWA works hard in contract negotiations to win quality   benefits. Keeping quality health care for workers and retirees is one of the most critical issues in every round of bargaining with every CWA-represented employer.

Despite the quality benefits our union bargains, CWA members, like other Americans, are encountering the effects of our broken health care system.

Under our current system, it's not too hard to imagine how a serious illness, the loss of a job or simply an employer's broken promise on retiree health care can turn a working family's world upside down.

Real health care reform, including ironclad protections for consumers, means peace of mind for all working families.

What Should We Worry About?

Problem: Workers ages 55-64 are worrying about their retirement, including millions of "bridge-year" retirees, those who already have retired but are too young for Medicare.

Workers who have retired early and had their employers renege on retiree health care know reform is critical. And more companies are doing that every day. The latest is American Airlines, which just told retired workers that it plans to drop their health care coverage.

A third of pre-Medicare eligible retirees who look to buy private insurance get turned down and those lucky enough to get coverage find that their premiums are even higher than the COBRA rates charged to laid-off workers.

Solution: Some of the bills in Congress are looking to fix this problem. Currently, H.R. 3200 would subsidize employers and trust funds that offer health benefits for pre-Medicare retirees aged 55-64. It would reimburse employers for 80 percent of the annual health costs incurred between $15,000 and $90,000 for an individual, through an established $10 billion reserve program.

Most important, it would be a dramatic improvement in retiree health care costs out of bargaining.

What Happens If I'm Retired But Not Old Enough for Medicare?

Bill Faulkner, Jr.

'My health care resources will run out in just under two years'

For many workers, retirement isn't exactly the "Golden Years" that many people looked to when they decided to call it quits after putting in 30 years or more of work. Bill Faulkner, Jr., 60, retired from Embarq this year, but faces huge health costs for himself and his wife until he qualifies for Medicare at 65.

"The $18,000 Embarq contributed into my health care bank to cover my health care in retirement will run dry by 2011 at which point I will need to find coverage elsewhere," he says. "That $18,000 doesn't go a long way," he notes. "Each month, $770 comes out of the bank to pay for the premiums, and that is on top of any out-of-pocket health costs we might incur."

In addition to that $770 every month, Faulkner pays another $250 a month for a bare bones policy for his wife, Darlene. His basic pension is just $1,566 a month.

When the money in Faulkner's Embarq health care bank runs out in 2011, he will be hard pressed to find affordable health insurance in the private insurance market to cover him until he is Medicare eligible at age 65.

And in the private insurance market, Faulkner and his wife face the very real likelihood that they will be denied coverage for certain "pre-existing conditions" that their current policies cover.

Employers Need to Join Us in Reform Fight

CWA, IBEW, Verizon and a diverse group of business, health care and retiree organizations have formed the "Bridge Years Health Coalition," to support efforts to make sure that the concerns of Americans aged 55-64 get addressed in health care reform.

In a letter to President Obama and to congressional leaders, the coalition stressed that pre-65 retirees need access to quality, affordable health care coverage that is not contingent on health or employment status.

"If these Americans lose their jobs, they find it hard to obtain adequate health care coverage. Medicare is, of course, not available, they are 'too young.' But private insurers view them as 'old' and higher risk, resulting in significantly higher premiums, the application of pre-existing exclusions, and, for about a third, denial of coverage altogether," the coalition wrote.

Following the 2008 contract negotiations, CWA, IBEW and Verizon formed a partnership to help find solutions to the health care crisis, agreeing that problems like increasing costs and quality of care can't be solved at the bargaining table. The three bargaining partners decided to expand their reach by founding the coalition. Members include the AFL-CIO, Alliance for Retired Americans, the National Coalition for Health Care, Small Business Majority and others.

What Happens If I Lose My Job?

Darlene Friese, member AFA-CWA Council 51, Chicago

'For over a year I had no insurance and could not afford COBRA'

I lost my job as a flight attendant when ATA Airlines went under in 2008. Being older, and given the economy, it took me quite a while to find a new job. I'm happy now to be flying again, with American Eagle, but for over a year I had no insurance and could not afford COBRA.  Luckily, I stayed healthy.  But I worried: I was unable to get my yearly mammogram and other tests I need because of a family history of ovarian cancer. My sister died from it.

My sister's battle with cancer forced her to file for bankruptcy because she couldn't afford to pay her mortgage and other bills after her disability insurance ran out. I'm sure this aggravated her health, which was already in decline.

Toward the end of her life her doctor recommended hospice care. But her insurance company refused to cover it. Thankfully, a hospital social worker took on the fight and the company ultimately changed its mind. My sister died a dignified death in a wonderful hospice care facility.

Sadly, not everyone has an advocate like that. Even with one, it can be impossible to get an insurance company to do the right thing. The more they refuse care, the bigger their profits and CEO salaries. It's unconscionable.

James Hand, IUE-CWA Local 84907, Columbus, Ind.

'I'm living proof that it could be your problem just as easily as it became mine'

I lost my job of 22 years when my company moved the work overseas. Because of TAA (Trade Adjustment Assistance), I was able to keep my health care, but I can only afford it because there's a temporary federal subsidy. Otherwise it would be at least $1,300 a month.

I've found some less expensive policies but because I have pre-existing conditions, I'm not eligible. I've actually had insurance agents laugh at me and hang up. Some have said, "We're not in the business of insuring people like you."

I'll lose my subsidized TAA insurance in a few months, and will be faced with having no insurance at all. I have no idea how my wife and I will afford the prescriptions we critically need. Meanwhile, my degenerative spinal disease has gotten worse, making it difficult for me to walk.

In spite of that, I don't want to go on disability. I'm in my 50s with a good education, marketable skills and a stellar work history. But as thousands of other unemployed people my age know, companies aren't hiring older workers. After a year of searching, the $350 I get each week in unemployment is about to run out.

I shake my head when I hear people who have never been victimized by the heath care system or are able to afford whatever they need speak out with such bitterness toward people who desperately need reform. Maybe you think, "I've got a good job and I've got insurance. It's not my problem." I'm living proof that it could be your problem just as easily as it became mine.

Brenda Collins, member IUE-CWA Local 798, Moraine, OH

'I will not be able to get any insurance because of my cancer history until 2014'

Today, in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, millions of workers find themselves in a position of not being able to afford to pay for the cost of their health care insurance after being laid off.

For IUE-CWA Local 798 member Brenda Collins, laid off this year from the GM truck assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, health coverage could be a matter of life and death. Collins survived a bout with breast cancer, but her employer-paid benefits will end in October. She is worried that continuing her insurance under the federal COBRA insurance coverage for her family policy (also covering her self-employed husband and her son) will be unaffordable when the federal subsidy ends. At that point, the coverage will cost her more than $1,000 a month.

"That would be a struggle for us to pay even if I still worked at GM," Collins said. "Reasonable health care needs to be made more available and affordable. After COBRA coverage ends in 18 months, I will not be able to get any insurance because of my cancer history until 2014."

While shopping for policies with private insurance companies, Collins learned that no companies would agree to provide her any health insurance coverage until 10 years after her last cancer treatment, which was in 2004.

What Should We Worry About?

Problem: Workers facing a job layoff are hit with a double whammy. Income goes way down, but the cost of replacing health coverage for themselves and their families skyrockets. Federal law requires employers to offer workers the opportunity to continue their current health care plan for 18 months, under the COBRA program. What's the catch? Workers must pay both the employer and employee cost, plus an administrative fee, a total of 102 percent of the premium. The Obama administration included a nine-month subsidy for workers, but the costs ?are simply unaffordable for most families.

Is buying health care coverage in the private market an option? Only if you've never been sick, never been to the doctor and are lucky enough to find an insurer that doesn't pay its employees a bonus for denying claims. 

Solution: Real health care reform that includes a public option that will enable laid-off workers to afford health care coverage for themselves and their families, is included in HR 3200.

What Happens If I Get a Serious Illness?

Linda Preuss, member TNG-CWA Local 34022, Detroit, MI

'People are going to believe what they believe until they walk in your shoes'

A year ago, Linda Preuss had a steady paycheck and her employer picked up most of her health care costs. Then she got cancer.

Now she pays $724 a month for insurance, plus co-payments for her many doctors' appointments. And she has to do it on a retirement income of $2,500 a month — a third less than she was making at the Macomb Daily newspaper outside of Detroit.

"I think, 'Can I pay my rent? Can I make my car payment?" says Preuss, 62. "But I know I'm blessed. I look at some of these poor people in the chemo room, they get dropped off by a taxi because they're all alone. And I think, 'Oh my God, how psychologically, emotionally, physically and financially draining it must be for them.'"

Preuss, a member of TNG-CWA Local 34022, laid out advertisements and otherwise helped things run smoothly at the Macomb paper for 34 years. In the summer of 2008, just two months after getting a clean bill of health at her annual exam, she felt fatigued but chalked it up to stress at work.

When she saw her doctor a few weeks later she was stunned to learn she had bladder cancer. In November, she had a 14-hour surgery to remove her bladder, construct a new one and take out 27 potentially cancerous lymph nodes.

But the cancer had spread further than anyone knew and six months later, doctors told Preuss she'd need a heavy regime of chemotherapy. Her health demanded that she retire from her job. She could maintain her insurance through COBRA, it's expensive.

She's cut back where she can, even on prescriptions doctors have urged her to take for pain management. She occasionally takes medication that her insurance covers, but one prescription was going to cost $80 — per pill. She passed on it.

Preuss is extremely grateful to her Guild local and her newspaper for a bowl-a-thon and other fundraisers that have raised several thousand dollars for her. She said some of that will go toward her deductible for a second surgery she will need this November.

Watching opponents of health care reform holler and wave cruel signs on TV is so discouraging she often just turns it off. "I think, 'If you only knew,'" she says. "It's depressing, very, very depressing, because there's not a whole lot we can do about it. People are going to believe what they believe until they walk in your shoes."

Bradley Harmon, president, CWA Local 6355, St. Louis, Mo.

'My members have little or no choice anymore'

The state of Missouri, which employs about 1,000 members of my local, has just decided to limit employees to one choice for health insurance.

Many members are extremely upset and worried because two major health care provider networks don't have a contract with the company Missouri chose. That means many workers will be forced to switch health care providers or pay enormous out-of-pocket penalties.

It's ironic to hear anti-health care reform people say that under President Obama's plan, people wouldn't be able to choose their doctors. They're trying to kill reform based on a lie while my members really do have little or no choice anymore — all because of the limits of a private insurance company.  

Chip Catherine, member NABET-CWA Local 52031, Silver Spring, MD

'There's no other country where you have to worry about this'

As an ABC daily hire, Chip Catherine pays $1,100 a month for health insurance and his wife pays for a family plan with her employer.

And because he's had a heart attack, a "pre-existing condition," Chip doesn't even know if all that money will do him any good if he gets ill again. "I'm paying more than $13,000 a year just for me, and it's a crapshoot," he says.

His jaw drops when he learns that a fellow CWA member in Canada, around his age and working for the CBC television network pays just $108 a month for health care to cover his five-member family. It's a health care tax that comes out of Colin Preston's paycheck, just like Social Security does here. And Preston never has to worry about losing his coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

"A hundred dollars? To cover his entire family? I could fund my children's educations, we could take family vacations. It wouldn't hurt to have some spending money," says Chip, a member of NABET-CWA 52031. "As it is, I'm busy working overtime just to make ends meet."

Chip, 51, suffered his heart attack in 2008. At the time, he was covered by his wife's family policy through her job with a hotel chain. But her company arbitrarily changed insurers at the end of 2008. The new company won't cover Chip because of his "pre-existing" heart attack.

ABC daily hires aren't eligible for company-paid benefits. But Chip, an installer, works enough hours that he was allowed to buy into the group policy.

He's fearful that as soon as he really needs the insurance, the insurance company will pull the rug out from under him. And as a daily hire — like anyone else vulnerable to layoffs — he knows he could lose his coverage altogether if his job goes away.

"There's no other country where you have to worry about this," he says. "I understand that some people are fearful and they don't want any kind of change, but the fact is, my problem is everyone's problem. Everyone is going to have a pre-existing condition if you live long enough."

What Should We Worry About?

Problem: Most people who have insurance don't realize that they might not have as much protection as they think. That was the message from Karen Pollitz, research professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute to the House Education and Labor Committee.

"Far too many policies that provide inadequate coverage are on the market today. Recent studies find that 57 million Americans are burdened with medical debt and 75 percent of them have health insurance. Medical bills continue to be a leading contributor to personal bankruptcy and most medical bankruptcies also occur among people who are insured," Pollitz said.

A 2009 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that just 17 percent of workers who now have health care through their employers are confident that they could afford to purchase it on their own if their employer dropped coverage.

The number of Americans in families with problems paying medical bills rose to 57 million, or 20 percent, in 2007, according to Health Care for America Now.

Solution: 94 percent of Americans believe changes are needed in our health care system, especially when it comes to health insurance reform. 

Pollitz says health care reform should make certain that working families aren't sandbagged or left bankrupt by hidden limits on their health care coverage.