APS and new healthcare provider

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are terrible. This is a huge change and teachers should’ve been given more of a heads up. They’ve put up with a ton in the last couple of years and morale is terrible already.

APS has known since July. There’s no excuse why they weren’t told sooner.

+1

CareFirst is great, but they absolutely should have been told earlier if APS knew in July.

So then what- teachers get pissed and leave before the first day of school? Is that good for our kids?

Knowing earlier would’ve allowed teachers to start finding new doctors. It takes months and months to get appointments.

Okay, so now you know. It’s September. Start looking. You HAVE months and months to schedule an appointment if you don’t wait until January to do it.

What kind of problem solving skills are you guys teaching the students?

I switched insurance this January and made appts with several new doctors after that happened - allergist, Gynecologist, and gastroenterologist. None of them took "months and months" to get an appointment. I also had to find an orthopedist this year, and got an appointment within a couple of weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a federal employee, I wanted to chime in on the facebook threads and ask if teachers were urgently writing to their elected officials to advocate for the government not to shut down. How many families in APS would be impacted by a shutdown? That's a major upheaval, but, you don't see parents whining to teachers asking for support.

Ideally, APS would have more than one insurance option available to staff, but, the contracting/procurement/funding is what it is. I understand it's not ideal to have to switch health care providers, but, as numerous people have pointed out, this is routine in the rest of the professional world, and all of us who are not teachers do not get to enjoy summers off to schedule any and every appointment under the sun for ourselves and our families.

Seconding all of this.

I understand the frustration, but it really is a bad look.

A lot of workers everywhere are hurting. Read the room.

And some APS families don’t even have insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are terrible. This is a huge change and teachers should’ve been given more of a heads up. They’ve put up with a ton in the last couple of years and morale is terrible already.

APS has known since July. There’s no excuse why they weren’t told sooner.

+1

CareFirst is great, but they absolutely should have been told earlier if APS knew in July.

Exactly. The people crapping on APS educators here are ignoring obvious and crucial context, which is that Duran's administration has consistently DECREASED and reduced community involvement in decision-making (not that this needed to be a committee-situation, but it's high stakes for many people). Giving a heads up at the last possible moment that a major change is forthcoming is just another example of student-facing staff feeling shut out by leadership. I say this as someone with no love of Kaiser.

This whole chain of comments...I can't.

You want them to break the law and keep you abreast of their procurement process? Procurement is not group decision-making. The community isn't going to be involved. Mid-september notice for a january 1 switchover is so not last minute!

This makes me feel really bad for APS administrators. Ugh, you all sound awful to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Real talk — I’m on board with most teachers’ complaints. Class sizes, pay, *getting the shaft when you compare vacation days to those of Syphax*

But PICK YOUR BATTLES. This isn’t that big of a deal.

We all know that one kid who whines about everything. And when he does that, people stop listening to even the legitimate complaints.

It’s a headache, but one everyone else has dealt with, too. You’ll still have insurance. You have time to figure things out. No one is being sent out into the wild without options. No one is waiting a year to establish care with a doctor — this isn’t the UK.

[Anonymous]

I feel badly for one teacher who spoke last night who had some real medical issues that she was dealing with. I hope that Kaiser would work with her to a destinations before the switch.

That said, we have all had to change providers at some point, and I don’t appreciate that some outspoken individuals are complaining to the parents about this. Health insurance issues suck. I get that. However, what they are facing isn’t that uncommon and the hyper Bolic statements about needing sick days just to find doctors makes them look out of touch with reality. I think it’s certain Facebook page draws people to complain about everything and I think it’s actually done more harm to the system and good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a federal employee, I wanted to chime in on the facebook threads and ask if teachers were urgently writing to their elected officials to advocate for the government not to shut down. How many families in APS would be impacted by a shutdown? That's a major upheaval, but, you don't see parents whining to teachers asking for support.

Ideally, APS would have more than one insurance option available to staff, but, the contracting/procurement/funding is what it is. I understand it's not ideal to have to switch health care providers, but, as numerous people have pointed out, this is routine in the rest of the professional world, and all of us who are not teachers do not get to enjoy summers off to schedule any and every appointment under the sun for ourselves and our families.

Seconding all of this.

I understand the frustration, but it really is a bad look.

A lot of workers everywhere are hurting. Read the room.

And some APS families don’t even have insurance.

Yeppp ^^^^^^^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel badly for one teacher who spoke last night who had some real medical issues that she was dealing with. I hope that Kaiser would work with her to a destinations before the switch.

That said, we have all had to change providers at some point, and I don’t appreciate that some outspoken individuals are complaining to the parents about this. Health insurance issues suck. I get that. However, what they are facing isn’t that uncommon and the hyper Bolic statements about needing sick days just to find doctors makes them look out of touch with reality. I think it’s certain Facebook page draws people to complain about everything and I think it’s actually done more harm to the system and good.

Exactly. This is an issue we have all had to deal with. And the accusation on Facebook that Kaiser didn’t bid because it didn’t want to deal with APS is ignorant at best. These folks clearly have no idea how health insurance works. And the whining that APS didn’t tell them in July. It is September. You have til end of March with the 90 day grace period BCBS is offering. This is an extreme overreaction with blame being directed at the wrong people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel badly for one teacher who spoke last night who had some real medical issues that she was dealing with. I hope that Kaiser would work with her to a destinations before the switch.

That said, we have all had to change providers at some point, and I don’t appreciate that some outspoken individuals are complaining to the parents about this. Health insurance issues suck. I get that. However, what they are facing isn’t that uncommon and the hyper Bolic statements about needing sick days just to find doctors makes them look out of touch with reality. I think it’s certain Facebook page draws people to complain about everything and I think it’s actually done more harm to the system and good.

Exactly. This is an issue we have all had to deal with. And the accusation on Facebook that Kaiser didn’t bid because it didn’t want to deal with APS is ignorant at best. These folks clearly have no idea how health insurance works. And the whining that APS didn’t tell them in July. It is September. You have til end of March with the 90 day grace period BCBS is offering. This is an extreme overreaction with blame being directed at the wrong people.

FCPS has a similar page on FB and it's the same people complaining over and over again. I always wonder if other people from their schools look at those pages and if so, what they think.

[Anonymous]

It’s so hard to hear about this, especially, coming from a profession that actually has insurance, a pension, a decent salary (know and have teacher friends that make way more than me), a couple months off in the summer and most of the school holidays off. My employer doesn’t offer insurance so if I want it, I have to pay out of pocket. I’m sure it’s annoying for everyone and I’m sorry teachers and families are having to deal with it but there are a lot of us who wish having to change providers was our problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel badly for one teacher who spoke last night who had some real medical issues that she was dealing with. I hope that Kaiser would work with her to a destinations before the switch.

That said, we have all had to change providers at some point, and I don’t appreciate that some outspoken individuals are complaining to the parents about this. Health insurance issues suck. I get that. However, what they are facing isn’t that uncommon and the hyper Bolic statements about needing sick days just to find doctors makes them look out of touch with reality. I think it’s certain Facebook page draws people to complain about everything and I think it’s actually done more harm to the system and good.

This made me laugh. Young staff I work with get 15 days of PTO plus 8 holidays per year. 23 days of leave for the whole year - this is supposed to cover sick days, vacations, kid's days off from school... whatever. And their health insurance changes companies every few years, too. From the APS leave policy document, it appears that new teachers get at least 14 days of paid leave, another 10 sick days, 5 days at Thanksgiving, 10 at Christmas, and 5 in the spring. I recognize that the pay is commensurate with this much leave, but honestly, to claim that you need more time off to get new doctors is making you sound completely unhinged and really hurting any goodwill that parents would be willing to share with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel badly for one teacher who spoke last night who had some real medical issues that she was dealing with. I hope that Kaiser would work with her to a destinations before the switch.

That said, we have all had to change providers at some point, and I don’t appreciate that some outspoken individuals are complaining to the parents about this. Health insurance issues suck. I get that. However, what they are facing isn’t that uncommon and the hyper Bolic statements about needing sick days just to find doctors makes them look out of touch with reality. I think it’s certain Facebook page draws people to complain about everything and I think it’s actually done more harm to the system and good.

Exactly. This is an issue we have all had to deal with. And the accusation on Facebook that Kaiser didn’t bid because it didn’t want to deal with APS is ignorant at best. These folks clearly have no idea how health insurance works. And the whining that APS didn’t tell them in July. It is September. You have til end of March with the 90 day grace period BCBS is offering. This is an extreme overreaction with blame being directed at the wrong people.

FCPS has a similar page on FB and it's the same people complaining over and over again. I always wonder if other people from their schools look at those pages and if so, what they think.

But the FCPS page is a staff only page of people complaining amongst themselves. Aps staff is asking parents to “stand with them” against the administration and help them on a very public community and parent page. I think there is a difference and aps staff needs some perspective. I agree many families are struggling. They sound out of touch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel badly for one teacher who spoke last night who had some real medical issues that she was dealing with. I hope that Kaiser would work with her to a destinations before the switch.

That said, we have all had to change providers at some point, and I don’t appreciate that some outspoken individuals are complaining to the parents about this. Health insurance issues suck. I get that. However, what they are facing isn’t that uncommon and the hyper Bolic statements about needing sick days just to find doctors makes them look out of touch with reality. I think it’s certain Facebook page draws people to complain about everything and I think it’s actually done more harm to the system and good.

Exactly. This is an issue we have all had to deal with. And the accusation on Facebook that Kaiser didn’t bid because it didn’t want to deal with APS is ignorant at best. These folks clearly have no idea how health insurance works. And the whining that APS didn’t tell them in July. It is September. You have til end of March with the 90 day grace period BCBS is offering. This is an extreme overreaction with blame being directed at the wrong people.

FCPS has a similar page on FB and it's the same people complaining over and over again. I always wonder if other people from their schools look at those pages and if so, what they think.

But the FCPS page is a staff only page of people complaining amongst themselves. Aps staff is asking parents to “stand with them” against the administration and help them on a very public community and parent page. I think there is a difference and aps staff needs some perspective. I agree many families are struggling. They sound out of touch.

That's true - I see your point. I guess I just meant the FCPS page was similar in that it is basically complaining all of the time about how awful FCPS is. Although it is only for staff, there are many administrators, etc who can and probably do read the page. I agree that teachers AEM should not be asking parents to stand with them on this matter. It is completely out of touch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s so hard to hear about this, especially, coming from a profession that actually has insurance, a pension, a decent salary (know and have teacher friends that make way more than me), a couple months off in the summer and most of the school holidays off. My employer doesn’t offer insurance so if I want it, I have to pay out of pocket. I’m sure it’s annoying for everyone and I’m sorry teachers and families are having to deal with it but there are a lot of us who wish having to change providers was our problem.

They don’t get the summer months “off”. They aren’t paid for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel badly for one teacher who spoke last night who had some real medical issues that she was dealing with. I hope that Kaiser would work with her to a destinations before the switch.

That said, we have all had to change providers at some point, and I don’t appreciate that some outspoken individuals are complaining to the parents about this. Health insurance issues suck. I get that. However, what they are facing isn’t that uncommon and the hyper Bolic statements about needing sick days just to find doctors makes them look out of touch with reality. I think it’s certain Facebook page draws people to complain about everything and I think it’s actually done more harm to the system and good.

Exactly. This is an issue we have all had to deal with. And the accusation on Facebook that Kaiser didn’t bid because it didn’t want to deal with APS is ignorant at best. These folks clearly have no idea how health insurance works. And the whining that APS didn’t tell them in July. It is September. You have til end of March with the 90 day grace period BCBS is offering. This is an extreme overreaction with blame being directed at the wrong people.

FCPS has a similar page on FB and it's the same people complaining over and over again. I always wonder if other people from their schools look at those pages and if so, what they think.

But the FCPS page is a staff only page of people complaining amongst themselves. Aps staff is asking parents to “stand with them” against the administration and help them on a very public community and parent page. I think there is a difference and aps staff needs some perspective. I agree many families are struggling. They sound out of touch.

That's true - I see your point. I guess I just meant the FCPS page was similar in that it is basically complaining all of the time about how awful FCPS is. Although it is only for staff, there are many administrators, etc who can and probably do read the page. I agree that teachers AEM should not be asking parents to stand with them on this matter. It is completely out of touch.

Oh I totally agree that excessive complaining on the FCPS staff page is not a good look either since their admin on their as well.

I just think it is frustrating when you can see a few teachers post their opinions about an issue on aem, then the parents latch onto on to it sometimes with a very limited perspective/understanding, then they become very vocal in advocating, and then we get an email from Duran a few weeks later stating a policy that expresses the views that were on aem a few weeks before. I lose all respect for the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s so hard to hear about this, especially, coming from a profession that actually has insurance, a pension, a decent salary (know and have teacher friends that make way more than me), a couple months off in the summer and most of the school holidays off. My employer doesn’t offer insurance so if I want it, I have to pay out of pocket. I’m sure it’s annoying for everyone and I’m sorry teachers and families are having to deal with it but there are a lot of us who wish having to change providers was our problem.

They don’t get the summer months “off”. They aren’t paid for them.

Tone deaf again. Teachers emphasizing that their summer breaks are unpaid, while they get more paid leave than most US workers get in a whole year just in the months between November and March... is maddening. We all know your job is hard... but there are perks and you know it.