According to Nikki Finke’s “Deadline Hollywood” blog, the IATSE locals will send out ballots on the new contract this week, but will not send out the memorandum of agreement itself. This would be pretty surprising — they’d be asking us to vote on a critical contract without seeing it in print. Ron Kutak had previously indicated in an email to Editors Guild members that the memorandum would be included in the packet. In any event, you can view it here. I find it pretty sobering. [Update — I just received the ballot and the memorandum was indeed included.]
The health plan provisions for out-of-network doctors are even worse than I mentioned earlier. The plan will reimburse only 50% of out-of-network costs, based on “the 70th percentile” of the “usual and customary” rate (which, as mentioned earlier, was recently determined to be fraudulent in a case before the NY State Attorney General’s office). For those of you without a math background that’s 50% of 70% of what they think it ought to cost (“70th percentile” isn’t quite the same as “70%” but without access to the actual fee schedule, it’ll have to do). If you get a bill for $100, they will very likely figure it’s really worth $80 or so. Then they’ll pay roughly 50% of 70% of the $80 or a lousy $28 on a $100 charge. Worse, there used to be a “stop-loss” provision for out-of-network expenses, which would limit the yearly amount you’d owe to $1100 not including co-pays. In the new contract, that limit will be eliminated entirely, meaning that you could be liable for a great deal of money. Like I said, you ain’t goin’ outta network anymore.
For additional details, read Nikki’s post or the 400 Hours blog. Local 600 has also posted some materials on their website.
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