I first received a note about the situation with employee medical coverage at Mesa about two weeks ago. This was shortly after we BuzzBombed Northwest Airlines for the short two-week time frame employees there were given to respond back to the airline in regard to their choice of medical coverage.

That week I received a note concerning employee medical coverage at Mesa, which, frankly, I just didn’t believe.

But, it appears to be legit.

Here’s the deal.

It appears that Mesa recently gave their employees all of 3 days…. yes …3 days… to sign up for their new medical insurance coverage.

Only after employees screamed about the situation did the airline extend it for a week or so.

Oh, and for those employees that have been hired by the airline after Feb. 1 of this year — I’d suggest they take a really close look at their medical insurance coverage limits.

It was confirmed to us this week that the maximum annual payment allowed under the new Mesa self-insured plan is $25,000.

That’s right.

$25,000 a year max.

According to our sources, management has pointed out to employees that if they want additional coverage, they can buy it themselves.

I’d suggest Mesa employees might indeed want to look at additional policies with $25,000 deductibles, as one relatively normal visit to the hospital could easily exceed that total. My personal experience certainly bears this fact out. I say this, because I have a feeling that new hires may not pay much attention to the fine print and think they have a viable maximum lifetime payment provision — as is the case with the majority of health insurance plans.

Meanwhile, given that Mesa Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein has what appears to be the most lucrative compensation package in the regional airline sector — not to mention the most lucrative severance agreement should the airline ever be sold — I find both the initial three-day sign-up period, not to mention the paltry annual maximum on medical payouts worthy of BuzzBomb recognition.

And of course, the new limits are only in effect for worker bees — not members of the Mesa management team.