Greetings,

Dear Flight Attendants,

It is hard to believe open enrollment is here again and we have yet to resolve our dispute over the change regarding the application of our medical deductible to brand name prescriptions when filled by a network pharmacy.  There have been additional “change in coverage” issues brought forward with the move from Aetna to Premera in 2008.  

We have attempted to schedule the case for arbitration throughout the year.  Management would not agree to any of the dates we proposed.  

We have, as recently as last Friday the 14th, met with management to discuss possible settlements. None of those discussions have included an offer to return to the coverage and practices we had with Aetna as the administrator of Alaska’s self-insured healthcare plan.  They have included offers to reimburse folks for 2008 applications as management says they should have given us more heads up on the changes. We are still working towards those possible agreements. The current proposal does not require AFA to withdraw our grievance, we would still go forward with asking an arbitrator to review management’s right to change our levels of coverage going forward. In evaluating to what degree if any you were ultimately affected by the prescription issue it is best to wait until all your 2008 medical and prescription claims have been processed.

We have made a final request to have this issue heard at a February 2009 arbitration date.  If management once again refuses to schedule this case we will use all legal means available to compel them to arbitrate the question.

The bottom line for right now is you should do what you think is best to prepare to start 2009 with all brand name prescriptions being subject to your medical deductible.  Please review your open enrollment packet for information on what your deductible for 2009 will be.  You may also want to consider reviewing the information on our Flexible Spending Account so that you can pay your deductible with pre-tax dollars.  You might also see if there are any of your prescriptions you can re-fill before the end of this year if you have already met your deductible.

We are still looking for any other changes in coverage in 2008 and you can co-mail documentation of those to Gail Bigelow, MEC Grievance Chair @ SEAFO.  As a heads up we are also researching the proposed 2009 change to our prescription program outlined in the open enrollment packet.  You will see more on that in a separate communication.

Thanks and fly safe.

Kelle Wells

MEC President