Retiree Medical Update

[Anonymous]

Many companies are dramatically reducing or eliminating healthcare benefits for retirees but the dumb-ass retirees aren't using their brains. They are fighting Obamacare as hard as they can even though that's what is going to save them from poverty and bankruptcy. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

Lmao. Yup, love the obama soylent green program. Smart, smart, smart.

 

[Anonymous]

I am thrilled that you get free mammograms, you go girl!

 

[Anonymous]

Many companies are dramatically reducing or eliminating healthcare benefits for retirees but the dumb-ass retirees aren't using their brains. They are fighting Obamacare as hard as they can even though that's what is going to save them from poverty and bankruptcy. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

You think Pfizer Retiree Medical is bad - Just wait till the government takes over.

Teachers hate "No Child Left Behind" because of all the crazy mandates coming out of Washington that make no sense and are mostly just busy work that actually gets in the way of them educating. This is a good place to get insight into government run health care -costs will skyrocket and health outcomes will fall.

P.S. I have not had any issues with United Healthcare so far. Keeping fingers crossed.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry that I didn't put the entire story on CP. It would be nice if everything was as simple as you claim. I went out on STD due to an aggressive cancer and moved onto LTD and was then moved onto SSI & Medicare A&B. The BOOK from pfizer that you mention does not give any guidance. STD is one paragraph. Medical coverage is just as short and the end of the book gives Pfe the right to change the plan for any reason.
The ever moving medicare coverage determines what UHC pays for, but only in different medical needs. For example dur med eqpt is not covered in full by UHC, but it is with medicare. I found this out after I got a $4k bill for a wheel chair rental. I have been getting the same treatment for two years, by the same doc and she gets a different fee amount from UHC on each visit. It is like being in Vegas when I open up these bills, it keeps costing me more and more. There must be a simple way to trek costs.
Keep in mind that retirement was not my plan. It happened over a weekend. Besides, How many people actually retire from Pfizer anyway? I have never heard of someone lasting long enough to retire from here. Look at your next meeting to see if anyone has white hair. My face may still be on a wall at 245 E.42nd street, but Most of them and myself never got the BOOK !!!

Did the company terminate you once you hit LTD and if so did you apply for unemployment benefits or are you not eligible for unemployment since your on LTD?

 

[Anonymous]

Only ones to disagree with aspects of "obamacare" are those who already have good insurance, close to Medicare, are in good health....retiree medical will go the way of the dodobird - or at least become very expensive and there will be no safety net if you have a pre-existing condition. Not saying it's perfect but what are your alternatives???

Life can change in a heartbeat - have a little compassion. You could be the one needing it soon enough.

PS - New retirees with a spouse needing healthcare pay about $10K yr between premiums, co-insurance, deductibles, etc. It is nothing like the plans of the past or the current employee plan - and it's not going to get more affordable. Read the posts - for retirees eligible for Medicare - Pfizer insurance even with a subsidy costs more than finding your own supplement/Pt. D.

 

[Anonymous]

Who in Pfizer is in charge of contracting with and helping to execute the best medical coverage with the best premium for its Retirees? Quite honestly, I feel like chopped liver that's been thrown to the wolves. We Retirees are at the mercy of United Healthcare, who year after year, raises their premiums while restructuring their policy to include a higher deductible with less coverage.

After working for Pfizer for over 25 years, I expected better, much better. The Retiree medical is a disaster. Why doesn't someone who gives a sh** get in there and negotiate, or look for other companies who can offer us better coverage? Oh wait, could it be that someone is getting paid off? Could be, we'll never know. Why else does Pfizer keep shoving this crap down our throats. Meanwhile, the top salaried positions can't decide which harbor to moor their yachts in.

Nobody negotiated with pfizer to get the best coverage or premiums for us because we weren't smart enough to join a union. We didn't get a contract that could be enforced, we relied on empty promises that have been changed at will. We are just paying the price for our own stupidity. If the current employees can't figure it out, their fate will be worse than ours. And this is not just pfizer corporate greed, it's most corporations that don't have to deal with unions. There were reasons that people died for the right to unionize, we let them die for nothing when we believed we would be taken care of by the pfizer pfamily.

 

[Anonymous]

Nobody negotiated with pfizer to get the best coverage or premiums for us because we weren't smart enough to join a union. We didn't get a contract that could be enforced, we relied on empty promises that have been changed at will. We are just paying the price for our own stupidity. If the current employees can't figure it out, their fate will be worse than ours. And this is not just pfizer corporate greed, it's most corporations that don't have to deal with unions. There were reasons that people died for the right to unionize, we let them die for nothing when we believed we would be taken care of by the pfizer pfamily.

I agree. There was a day where one could retire with Pfizer and expect decent benefit coverage. Now days, there is little chance to even retire with Pfizer.

Many people think Unions are evil but I am beginning to see them as a neccessity since the corporate world has turned into a pack of greedy wolves.

 

[Anonymous]

Seriously I don't get how some of you people survived for as long as you did! First of all, you received an entire book from Pfizer about your choices for medical coverage, what your costs would be, what is covered, etc. If you can read, you should be able to figure this out! Secondly, there are web sites for UHC, Horizon, etc. that you can go to that explain your coverage and you can view every single cotton pickin claim as it moves through the system. As a Wyeth legacy retiree, it's pretty easy for me to understand that I have a $500 deductible, a maximum $3500 out-of-pocket per year, no-cost mammogram and physical annually, no cost Pfizer drugs, etc. For pete's sake-use a little initiative! There is no reason you should even have to call Fidelity if you would just do your onw legwork and not wait to be spoonfed.

Isn't it fun when a DM checks in? LOL!

 

[Anonymous]

We're not talking about tracking a claim, dimwit.

The point of the conversation is that premiums are high and coverage is low. Past CEO's have walked away with millions and we who are left behind, still in the workforce and in retiree mode, are left struggling to pay our premiums while deductibles are high, gone are the days of a co-pay for office visits, the number of covered drugs is shrinking, and while the yearly mammo, physical, etc. is covered in full, God help you if you are sick and need further treatment.

Many of us HAVE scoured the net looking for other coverage. Bottom line is that most plans are like this; high premium, high deductible, low coverage. In conclusion, after working for Pfizer for 30 years you would THINK we would not be left holding the bag on this one. Yes, If I knew 25 years ago what I know today, a Union would have been the ticket as the Royal Screwing would hav been held to a minimum.