Beechstreet Insurance

is anyone else sick and tired of our insurance, the worse coverage. the civilian's cigna is 100 times better.

is anyone else sick and tired of our insurance, the worse coverage. the civilian's cigna is 100 times better.

And when you try to get help from the Health Trust Office, forget it. Those girls there are highly paid and highly useless.

is anyone else sick and tired of our insurance, the worse coverage. the civilian's cigna is 100 times better.

And when you try to get help from the Health Trust Office, forget it. Those girls there are highly paid and highly useless.

You are so right

When I saw this post, it got me going. We have the worst Trust office I have ever seen. The girls are never there, you call and half the time no one gets the phone. They stick you for everything, basically every time you go to the doctor, it?s no covered. And let?s talk about the trust, Chris Rios what in the f--- is he doing there. Useless as a member. I have hundred horror stories, I am sure everyone else does. It?s time to change our employees, I say we, because we pay for their high paid salaries.

$200 ER co-pay, labs are not cover if you need blood work pay $$$$$ alot extra. it sucks

its true 200.00 co pay just for the e.r. room. then your normal 200.00 deductable thats 400.00 right there . then your meds are extra.

F O P HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by the way you cant have a physical done cause the insurance wont cover it. they say we get a physical done yearly with the city, lets see you do your physical in january and you feel sick and strange come august and you want another physical done, guess what die cause your insurance wont pay for it. :( :( :(

And see if you have a heart problem. They say heart bill but to qualify now you need to be out 7 or more days. If you go and see a cardiologist you'll be charged. 4 grand for his services because the heart bill won't cover and our ins won't either. They are playing the blame game meanwhile people will or are dying! I don't understand why the city with all it's employees just get a god insurance program with some one? It has to be something with kickbacks! I guess we should launch an investigation into this too. Sorry it's the FOP insurance. WOW. :oops:

FOP clean up house at the insurance office

First, the FOP is not going to clean up the Health Trust because they support it. They stack the board with useless cronies like a retired major, who was staff and yet attended the meetings. I bet the chief got a full report the next day about what went on in the FOP meeting the night before!

A member's child had a condition in which they spent over $4,000 of their own money for therapy for the child. The Trust denied it and they appealed it. The member's wife, who is in the medical field put together an excellent appeal. Yet Lissette told them even before the appeal was heard that she was voting against them. As a result the board was swayed and they lost. She votes against almost everything

Try and call the office at mid-day and you'll never speak with a live body. It's always the answering machine. They never can give you an answer without calling Beechstreet.

It is truly a sad operation.

i have a 600 bill for going to the hospital, plus the 180 we pay a pay period.

We need to get are facts together and bring all the facts to the FOP we can change ins.


WE All know some in this department has there hand in the ins companies pocket. That is the only reason they are here

i am willing to to go forward with this, it is ridiculous all the money i pay, especially when you have little kids at home that tend to visit the doctor more often.

Lisette must go! If it's our trust why can't the members fire her?

What qualifications do those two girls have? Lissette is a total idiot and rude one at that. Tammy is no better, you walk in to ask a question and they make you feel unwelcomed. Both are totally useless, with we could change the insurance ! We need to start looking elsewhere.

I AIN'T 1 2 GOSSIP BUT THOSE GYRLS ARE UBELESS! AAAND THEY NEVER SEEM YO BE IN THE OFFICE EITHER! OR THEY JUST DON'Y PICK UP THE PHONE! I THINK THRIR TOO COMFORTABLE IN THAT OFFICE! THEY ARE LIKE TWIDDLE DEE AND TWIDDLE DUMB!

We should audit what they are doing, where are they during working hours, lets have them do worksheets on who and what they are doing.

we should go with the civilian insurance 100 times better

WOW I guess the Honeymoon Is Over!!!!

We enjoyed almost six months of peace and quiet after the contract came in and everyones belly was full. I guess since nothing else is happening its time to talk trash and attack The Trust again!!!!

If you have proof of malfeasance, by all means go to the state attorneys office (none of us are driving any free cars) and we don't get paid for what we do. That includes the retired Major that comes in on his personal time to attend meetings representing retirees. Never mind that he was the chairperson for the Trust for over six years for free!!!

Get your facts straight!!! We are the FOP Insurance Trust and we work for the FOP our union and you, if you are a member!!!

Lissette Prieges-Granado, I emphasize the name because the Granado part ought to ring a bell if you have been here for more than five minutes, yup she is the recently retired Sgt. Pep's wife. If you are implying that he gets a break on his deductable or benefits you must be on drugs. But again if you can prove otherwise, by all means I encourage you to call the State Attorneys office we will have the books ready for inspection. Yes, she has an attitude, truth be told I like it. She is like a pit bull on a short leash and has an uncanny ability to detect BS, and no sense of humor for it. Dealing with cops day after day does that for you and hearing the trash that you guys are talking about them here doesn't go very far towards good will on their part. Give them the straight story and they will bend over backwards to help you out!! Try to BS them or intimidate them and you are on your own. Everything they do gets reviewed and approved by me and the board, no exception!!! Their sole interest is in protecting the Trust, period!!!!

As far as being in the office and answering phones: We have two people and an answering machine. I'm in the office alot and when we are working on time sensitive projects there have been several times when we let the phones go to the machine deliberately. As witnessed by me, an average of one in every ten calls leaves a message. If its that important why not leave a message, I know they call everyone back because I see it. I suppose I could hire another body so that we don't have to use the answering machine but that would mean another salary and benefits just to answer phones............Does that sound fiscally sound to you??

Their salaries are considerably lower than what their counterparts get in the public sector. One of them recently turned down the oportunity to go to work with the City as a director with a considerable increase in pay and benefits. BTW, Lissette is the manager and advises the board, she doesn't vote. And for the record we don't always agree or see eye to eye on alot of things, but then again I'm not interested in yes people working for me, I encourage independant thinkers.

As far as the appeal for the childs therapy, you are absolutely correct the mother put together an incredible and compelling presentation unfortunately the specific therapy they needed was not covered by us, it was a specific exlusion under our plan. If we disregard the plan document and pay for it we are negligent and you want to hand me my head for doing things that raise the cost of our insurance. I follow the book and you want to hand me my head.

So slick, how would you handle it? Come to the next meeting and show me how.!!!

The Heart Bill:
Yup we are playing games with peoples lives and we know it. It is not the Trusts fault and no we don't like it a little bit!!!! But the City's current antics are protected by Workers Comp Law and we can't do anything about it except file grievances.

The facts:
Please read this three times, then have a family member read it another three times to make sure you understand what I am trying to say!!!! And if you still don't understand come see me!!

Up until about a year ago the fact that you filled out an injury report on Heart Bill Related issues guaranteed that the City would cover all related expenses for the rest of your life (can you say expensive!!), no or few questions asked. Due to a law suit that was filed by a Broward County police department fighting the Heart Bill and the related benefits they were having to pay, an appeals court decided that the fact that you had high blood pressure (example) did not in and of itself constitute an injury. What constitutes an injury is loss of time or the inability to fulfill ones assigned task or job for a predetermined period of time :idea:

Somewhere, somehow risk management made a determination that you aren't injured by the mere fact that you become Hypertensive. It is the loss of the ability to work for seven (7) or more working days :idea: that constitutes a permanent (and covered) injury.

Due to this seven day rule :idea: anyone that doesn't meet the seven day criteria will not be covered by the City and has to be covered by the Trust. The unions from around the state are fighting this but there is no class action in Workers Comp cases so it has to be fought on a case by case basis.

In the interim we (The Trust) have agreed to cover the Heart Bill related medical expenses that are supposed to be covered by Risk Management/the City because we don't want anyone to die. To do so we are requiring affected members to come in and sign a release agreement and file a grievance through the FOP.

Why?

Because we fought hard to get the Heart Bill enacted to have the cities circumvent its intent. Heart related treatment is one of the most expensive next to cancer and it usually is for the rest of your life =(LONG TERM EXPENSIVE!!!) The City pays Workers Comp rates for treatment (about .40 to .50 per dollar billed), the Trust has to pay Usual &amp Customary (between .65 to .85 per dollar billed). If and when we prevail against the City they only have to pay us back at Workers Comp rate!!!

This is a lose, lose proposition no matter what we do, and now you know the whole story. There is no Blame Game going on here, we are trying to do the best we can against a City that want's to get away with as much as they can. Remember if we have to pay for treatment that Risk Management should be paying for, that means you and I will have to make up the difference and pay more.

Physicals:
Yup you got it right, we don't pay for them if you are active!!
The AMA says you only need one per year. If you are sick go to the doctor and get checked out for the symptoms you have (sick &amp strange?) but do not get a physical unless you plan on paying for it out of pocket!!!

City Provided Insurance:
The Insurance Trust was created back in the 80's when the members got together because they thought the City plan sucked!!! BTW The Firefighters tried to do it at the same time we did, and failed. If you want us to go back to the general employees plan, go to the next union meeting and bring it up for a vote. I suggest you wear your V-Top though because some of the old timers are gonna beat you like a readheaded step child. :shock:

No, it is not the best or the cheapest but it is the best we can do given the limitations we are operating under. In the last three years we have reviewed proposals from Blue Cross, United Health, Humana and a slew of others. The first thing we hear from ALL of these potential providers is You Guys Have A Cadilac Plan and you have to reduce benefits to get a better plan price. Well if cheaper means less, we don't want it!!!
So that is where we are. If you have a better idea, come to the next meeting and bring it with you, we won't get mad.

The Board:
Tina Duncan, Tom Roell, Chris Rios, Armando Aguilar Jr., and me. Useless as we may be, we are what you have looking out for your best interest. It is just like the FOP, we have open meetings that anyone can attend every third Thursday at 0900, come on down, love to have ya.

If you have a personal issue with a board member, be man or woman enough to take it up with them in person, not anonymously like some slime from under a rock.

All of us including Chris and Tommy attend every meeting that we can, in addition to several special meetings we have during the year, we serve with integrity and make decisions on appeals that tear our hearts out. Personally all of us would rather pay everything that gets appealed, it would be easier on us and we could all stand around holding hands, singing hymns, and everyone would love us. The reality is we all signed a fiduciary agreement binding us to protect the Trust's interest. It is a business and we operate it as such, no personal favors, no friends, no extra benefits, nothing!!!!

And on days like today I really wonder why I do it.

Yes by all means get your alleged Facts together and come see me, you know where I am.

Michael Marquez

put the by laws online or the website that we never got

Anybody know a good insurance lawyer?

Yea, the one that the PIO Lt. used to sue the trust, go by PIO and ask him

Any By laws yet Kenny, Lets see what the pit bull is got to say in the next FOP meeting about all this. What she should say is i welcome any positive change.

Any By laws yet Kenny, Lets see what the pit bull is got to say in the next FOP meeting about all this. What she should say is i welcome any positive change.

Still working on them.....Some things take a little time