Agreement Q&As: August 24, 2003

Page updated: August 24, 2003

1. How will I be affected by a change from a coordination of benefits to a maintenance of benefits?
Maintenance and Coordination are insurance terms that refer to insurance coverage with more than one plan. In simple terms, coordination allows for "double coverage," maintenance does not.

Under a Maintenance of Benefits plan, UAL will pay only up to the plan maximum. If a covered eligible is insured under another plan (primary) and your UAL plan is the secondary provider UAL will review the bill but only pay up to what the maximum is. For example:

Your eligible incurs a 100.00 bill (all reasonable and customary). Their plan pays 80/20 thus their plan would pay 80.00 of the 100.00 bill and 20.00 would be the balance. The provider or you would then bill your plan (the secondary insurance). UAL’s plan would review the same bill and because our plan pays 80/20 UAL would not pay any more and the eligible would be responsible for the balance of 20.00

If you are covered on a plan with your spouse/domestic partner the opposite is true if the secondary plan has coordination of benefits. For example:

You incur a bill of 100.00 (all reasonable and customary) and bill it to our UAL insurance. The UAL plan pays 80.00 of the 100.00 and leaves a 20.00 balance. The 20.00 balance is then billed to your secondary insurance. Since they still have a coordination of benefits, your bill should be covered 100% by the secondary insurance paying your provider the balance of 20.00.

If a United employee is married to a United retiree (retired before July 1, 2003), then the retiree pre-Medicare plan would still allow for coordination of benefits.

2. Does your retirement date affect which Prescription Drug Benefit plan you will receive?
Currently our Prescription Drug Benefit program allows for a 90 day supply of prescription medication at the cost of $10. Beginning July 1, 2003 the program will change, and the cost will be $15 for generic medication and $45 for brand name medication, both for a 90 day supply. Those who retire by June 30, 2003 will be covered under the current $10 plan, and retirements after this date would be covered by the plan as changed on July 1, 2003. After July 1, 2003 the plan calls for mandatory use of mail program after 90 days of retail for both active and retired employees.

3. If I retire after July 1, will I be able to participate in open enrollment each year to choose my medical coverage and category tier of contribution?
A retiree will be required to choose the medical coverage and tier of contribution at the time of retirement. This decision may not be changed post-retirement.

4. Why will International domiciled Reserves be guaranteed at the International rate of pay, while the domestic Reserves will be guaranteed at a domestic rate?
The International domiciles have always received a guarantee at an international rate of pay because that's the only flying available to them. This is similar to Philadelphia and/or Las Vegas that have only had domestic flying and therefore only domestic guarantee. This is not a change. The change is in the one reserve pool domestically, and this is a change that AFA fought very hard at the negotiating table. In the end, we were not successful with that battle. Although that battle was lost, it would not have made sense to argue away our International rate of pay, further harming our ability to make money. It was not possible to have it both ways.

5.  I am currently collecting LTD. If I retire after May 1, will I continue to receive both LTD and my pension?
As long as a Flight Attendant sustains the injury and is on Sick Leave or a Medical LOA before May 1, 2003, it doesn’t matter when he or she actually retires, the pension will not be off set by Long Term Disability.

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