AZ Retiree Benefits

Discussion in 'AstraZeneca' started by anonymous, Jul 6, 2018 at 2:18 PM.

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  1. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    About to retire from AZ. If you're over 65 and want to stick with the AZ Aetna retiree plan, you have to go with the Medicare Indemnity option. This has a cap of $25K per person. One hospital stay could blow pass the limit. For those who are experienced with this plan is it even worth it to take the AZ plan as opposed to going with a supplemental plan? Does Aetna even pick up much of what medicare doesn't. Appreciate any insights.
     

  2. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    You will need to monitor your own balance until you reach the $25K. AZ will cut you off the instant you reach your limit leaving you to pay the balance of whatever the bill comes to. The biggest fucking nuisance is whenever you have to deal with the AZ benefits dept. which is outsourced and it is obvious that AZ either doesn't monitor their work or they are rewarded for screwing people over. Either way, just go with the supplemental because it will cover more with about the same premium and you don't have to deal with the AZ bullshit any longer. But trust me, if you bill comes to $40K you will be stuck with every penny over $25K.
     
  3. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Take you pension in a lump sum and have a lawyer review whatever AZ sends you before signing. Do not trust any figures they send you because they are either incompetent, crooked, or both. But every error they make is always to their benefit. Do every thing you can to be rid of AZ including getting your own supplemental plan.
    You are just dollars and cents to them and no matter what level you reached in your career, they seriously do not care about you.
     
  4. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Get your money as far away from AZ as you can. Take the lump sum and move however many AZ shares you have out of the AZ UBS global account into your personal brokerage account. They are thieves. Their health care sucks. You can do better on your own. Get as far away from this $hit $how as you can!
     
  5. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    This is terrific advice. Retired two years ago and fortunately I qualified for the legacy Zeneca pension. Do not trust any figures AZ sends you. Find an attorney that is familiar with pension payout formulas and hopefully has dealt with AZ before. My attorney found multiple errors that were 100% in AZ's favor. Fortunately we did not need to go to court but AZ drug out the settlement for many months. I am sure that without an attorney I would never have won my case. I also went on my own and purchased my own insurance.
     
  6. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    By looking at the formula, you can figure out the math on your own to determine if AZ is ripping you off or not. However, receiving the actual amount agreed upon is a different story. In my case, AZ was waaaay off! That's where an attorney came in to play. I also agree that you can forget getting help from AZ to correct any discrepancies. In the end, i did get the lump sum amount that was
    owed to me but not without a fight and no explanation for the discrepancy.
     
  7. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Another victim of AZ Benefits. If they make a mistake in your favor, (which is a true mistake) they will hold back payments but if it helps them (99% of all mistakes) you will need to fight them and most likely need an attorney to get what they rightfully owe you.
     
  8. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Same experience. Was on a conference call with AZ Benefits, my financial planner and myself. When you speak with them you are speaking with an administrator not an actuary. They will give you whatever number you get yourself from the calculator feature. Do not trust the calculator. The people that you get on the phone can not even tell you the difference between a future value interest factor and a present value interest factor. Once you send your paper work in the numbers are given to an actual actuary. These people do the correct calculation. When i received my check it was about 10% higher than i had been told on the phone. They will not incur the expense of the actuary department until they are sure you are leaving. Also be aware that you were always told that your life insurance can be continued. What they are not transparent about is the fact your term plan converts to a whole life plan. A $100,000 plan will cost you about 3600.00 per year. The reality is if you take the lump sum you can self insure yourself and really no longer need life insurance. Good luck, its wonderful not dealing with AZ where talent and actual skills are overshadowed by obsequious dullards and political correctness.
     
  9. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    In dealing with AZ benefits, it is hard to tell whether they are totally incompetent of if they are making mistakes on purpose to increase their incentive awards offered by AZ. Realize that these are contractors not AZ employees. They truly don't give a shit about you so you are the only one looking out for your interests. Hire and attorney or a financial planner experience in dealing with these things.
     
  10. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    I went Supplement plus Part D. Much cheaper than AZ Retiree with much better coverage.
     
  11. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    I'm will 65 soon. I thought the $25k is for you and $25k for your spouse?

    What is the charge for the coverage. If just go to doc 3 or 4 times a year and Medicare pays first then it could be a real money saver....I've looked at my old bills in each of the last 4 years.
    We didn't spend that much. Please someone, tell me the Reader's Digest version.
     
  12. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    It is $25K for you and $25K for your spouse. You will pay about the same or more than you will with an independent supplemental plan and they will cut you off in the middle of a hospital stay once you reach the $25K limit. You would be stuck with the rest of the bill. You would be better off to just run away from AZ because dealing with their contractors is a nightmare.
     
  13. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    My spouse was hospitalized and AZ cut off her supplemental after 2 days when $11K put her at the $25K maximum. We got stuck for the remainder of $38K that Medicare didn't cover. We could not get our own independent plan that would cover it since the charges occurred while AZ was figuring out the numbers.
     
  14. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Best of luck for those retiring sooon