PS teachers and health benefits

[Greaseball]

I've been hearing a lot more about how the benefit packages offered to ps teachers are not what they used to be. Some teachers say they have to pay a few hundred a month out of their checks for their health coverage, even people without families. I suppose this depends on the district.

What's the situation in your district?

[LiamnEmma]

My district puts in about $541 monthly toward benefits...but I'm 80%, so I get...80% of that (sorry, didn't feel like calculating it). For our family of four needing major medical, dental (yup, we really do--I know I've sent our dentist on many vacations with my mouth) and vision insurance (yup, we really do, two in glasses with hx of eye surgeries already), I pay about $500 out of pocket each month. However, dh is able to waive most of his insurance (also a district employee--but different district), and they pay him the cash back, so ultimately we pay about $10 monthly when you use that differential. Not bad. And we're able to have my portion taken out pre-taxes, which lowers our gross/taxable income substantially, a definite bonux at tax time! But I do agree that benefit packages are not what they once were...but then, I think in most fields they are probably no longer what they once were, you know?

[EFmom]

It is true that the benefits aren't what they once were. In our state, employees enter at a different "tier" in the retirement system depending on when they were hired. The old timers (earlier tiers) have much better retirement benefits than newer hires.

As for medical and dental, it depends on the district, the strength of the union and the contracts, which are renegiotiated every few years. Dh pays several hundred dollars a month for Blue Cross/Blue Shield for the family. His dental is pretty good--better than mine, but still there is a lot out of pocket if you need work done.

[jannan]

i teach in a state funded after-school program but if i went to teach pre-k for the same program i would pay the same what i pay now and that is for dd and i. i pay 120.00 a month for total coverage, not including glasses or contacts

[joycenjackiesmom]

We pay approximately 360.00 per month for family medical and dental and vision for dh and I. The district pays 515.00 per month. We have three insurance plans to choose from, these costs are in the middle--I believe the allocation covers or just about covers the costs for single insurance coverage combining the lowest cost plans. I don't have the information in front of me at this time so I can't say for sure. This plan has $20 copays for regular dr visits and $25/$35 prescriptions. The dental covers half of most precedures. Better than some I had in the past not as good as others.

[Dragonfly]

Originally Posted by joycenjackiesmom

We pay approximately 360.00 per month for family medical and dental and vision for dh and I. The district pays 515.00 per month. We have three insurance plans to choose from, these costs are in the middle--I believe the allocation covers or just about covers the costs for single insurance coverage combining the lowest cost plans. I don't have the information in front of me at this time so I can't say for sure. This plan has $20 copays for regular dr visits and $25/$35 prescriptions. The dental covers half of most precedures. Better than some I had in the past not as good as others.

Pretty much the same with ours. I imagine it will go down slightly when we officially divorce and ds' dad is paying only for himself and ds. The thing is that it's getting worse with each consecutive year. The monthly payment goes up and, at the same time, the co-pay goes up (went fron 0 to 10 then 10 to 20) as does the payment for prescriptions (went from 15 to 25 this past year).

It's a 3-tier plan and those fees are for the HMO portion. If we choose PPO, we have a $150/per person deductible each year and then 80-85% of the allowable charge is covered.

[applejuice]

LAUSD has free medical, life, dental, and eye insurance for all teachers thanks to UTLA; after twenty years, a teacher can retire with full benefits for her/himself and her spouse.

Of course, I work in a private school in which I pay fully if I want Kaisar.

[kathipaul]

Washington State puts about $500 towards healthcare for each and every school teacher who works full time. That is supposed to cover medical, dental, vision, etc. If you work less than full time, you get that percentage benefits. If you want to cover your family and that amount does not pay for full coverage, you pay the difference out of pocket. You can choose from several health plans.

[lorijds]

My dh's insurance (complete with optic and dental) is free for him. Unfortunately, it is $580 to add a family, so the kids and I just have catastrophic.

[grisandole]

Ah, my favorite topic; ranting about crappy teacher benefits. It does vary greatly depending on the district.....overall, I think CA has the best health benefits for teachers and their families, many districts cover the family entirely at no out-of-pocket charge (of course, that might be an hmo as opposed to a ppo, but at least they offer it, yk?). When dh was working at a district in Northern Ca, it would've been 180.00/month to add me and ds1 to a good PPO plan. We could've been on Kaiser for cheaper. When we moved to IL, it would cost 500/month to add us (doesn't matter if you have one child or 10, the cost is the same). We couldn't afford it so got private crappy ins. for me and the ds's for 180/month. However, there were other districts in IL that did have better benefits......

Now we're in AZ, and dh has worked for two districts. For each, it would cost a whopping 800.00/month to add us. Needless to say, we aren't on his ins. We pay out of pocket for a so-so plan. I will say that dh has been covered for free at all his teaching jobs, and the insurance is excellent. Just wish they'd provide it at a reasonable cost for us. Starting pay for teachers in AZ is about 26K. Not the type of salary where one can afford 800/month in insurance. Oh, this is also a right-to-work state where unions are extremely weak; I'm not sure why they even bother to be honest (I am a union supporter, and dh joined the weak union). I think there are only a few districts in the entire STATE that have reasonable health insurance rates (and I consider 300 or less reasonable for the salary here).

Kristi

The lack of good health benefits really upsets me. We've seriously considered moving back to CA to get good healt benefits.....but, then we can't afford a house, lol.

[sunnmama]

Here in FL, dh's med ins is covered (he is the teacher). Dd and I are not, and it would be $700+ monthly for us to be on his. So we are not. Dd is on his (about $150 monthly), and I have crappy self pay

We also self pay dental for us all, and it is crappy

[maatmama]

I teach in NJ and I pay about 50$ a month for me and ds. It is an eye opener seeing the comparisons across the country. In this district the teachers went on strike (and put in jail<yes real county jail>) because of benefits (one of the major points)

[applejuice]

To add to my above post, LAUSD also will hire a newly credentialed first year teacher, bilingual, year round, working in the off-time as a substitute for $51,000.00 the very first year.

Full medical/dental/optical benefits for the teacher and his/her family also.

Not bad work if you can get it.

[grisandole]

Originally Posted by applejuice

To add to my above post, LAUSD also will hire a newly credentialed first year teacher, bilingual, year round, working in the off-time as a substitute for $51,000.00 the very first year.

Full medical/dental/optical benefits for the teacher and his/her family also.

Not bad work if you can get it.

Yep, LAUSD has good pay/benefits. Of course, finding an affordable house anywhere in Los Angeles is a joke

Most of the districts we looked into in CA had great benefits and decent to great pay. Is it the unions, or supply and demand, or a combination of factors?

Kristi

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by grisandole

Yep, LAUSD has good pay/benefits. Of course, finding an affordable house anywhere in Los Angeles is a joke

Most of the districts we looked into in CA had great benefits and decent to great pay. Is it the unions, or supply and demand, or a combination of factors?

Kristi

LAUSD also will help finanace a mortgage for a home near your school of employment.

Pretty nice.

I still could not stand to work in that environment.

[Flor]

As I suspected, my California school district is worse than others.

I pay about 100 a month just for me, they cover the rest. Last year I had my family on (HMO/Healthnet) for $980 dollars a month! Do I win the worst benefits prize? That didn't include dental which was another $120 a month. When I turned down the dental, I had to sign something saying I wouldn't apply for it again for 5 years, but that is over 1200 dollars a year and it didn't really cover much anyway. I called up BlueCross and got insurence for my family (dh and 2 kids for about 275 a month) since my rates were going to go up to over a thousand dollars a month -- plus I get money taken out each month to cover summer months and these rates don't even include that!

[applejuice]

I just heard on the news that LAUSD may soon be paying out $71,000,000.00 to its retirees; a finacial advisor said that he has been warning the district of this eventuality for years only to be continually ignored. A financial crisis is about to be seen, so perhaps a raise in taxes is about to be seen or a cut in the present workers' benefits??

...or another strike?

[BathrobeGoddess]

Here teachers who are full days get their medical and dental paid but to add a spouse is $390 per month and to add children another $190...

Part-time gets nothing...sorry preschool and Kinder teachers (that is my endorsement area (birth-age 8)) so I am very sore about it!

[kokotg]

this is one rare case where we seem to be lucky to be in georgia....dh is a teacher, and we pay somewhere a bit under $150/mo for blue cross/blue shield for our family of 4.

[Momtwice]

This is a problem in every career field, not just education.

Soaring health care costs in the USA hurt many people.

For instance I know a business owner who had a choice; she could stop paying for such good medical insurance, or she could lay people off. She chose the latter and is left with employees who are resentful that they don't get raises... when in actuality the cost of health insurance goes up so much every year that SHE feels like she IS giving them a raise.

Then there's my dh in a third industry who also has not seen a raise in years, which IMO is because his health coverage is always paid every year...a cost that increases dramatically for his employer each year.

It's enough to make me want to move to Canada...almost.