Retiree Benefits Take Another Hit

By Vanessa Fuhrmans and Theo Francis
The Wall Street Journal
July 16, 2008

General Motors Corp.’s move to eliminate retiree health benefits for salaried workers is a sobering signal to the rest of the U.S. work force: Even those who are in or near retirement shouldn’t count on keeping the company coverage they have built up.

Since the early 1990s, employers eager to get out from under the increasing burden of covering their retirees’ health care have been whittling away at those benefits. At some companies, new or younger workers have been excluded from retiree health benefits. Older workers and existing retirees often got to keep the benefits, but had to pay a larger share of the overall costs.

But GM’s announcement Tuesday that it would cease medical coverage for its salaried retirees age 65 and above signals that a new era of ever-shrinking benefits has arrived. Beginning in January, even former employees who are already in retirement will lose their benefits, which most of the company’s retirees use to supplement gaps in their traditional Medicare coverage. The auto maker will boost monthly pension payouts to help offset the cuts. The company’s unionized workers aren’t affected by the cut to retiree health benefits.

At this point, employees and retirees “have to feel lucky if they still have retiree [health-care] benefits, and have to start planning for when they won’t,” says Rick McGill, head of retiree medical consulting for employee-benefits firm Hewitt Associates. He says such benefits are “a dying breed.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121617237912356653.html

And…

With Warning, G.M. Takes Wide Cost Cuts

By Bill Vlasic
The New York Times
July 16, 2008

While G.M. has been methodically cutting jobs since 2006, the decision to eliminate health care benefits for salaried retirees over the age of 65 was unexpected. The generous health plans for retirees has long been considered a pillar of the benefit system at G.M.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/business/16auto.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Last week, a Quote of the Day message discussed why the overwhelming majority of individuals, except those enrolled in the traditional Medicare program, do not have a choice of keeping indefinitely the private health insurance that they currently have. The largest private health benefit program in the nation, that of General Motors, was used as an example of how even the best could not provide absolute security that you could keep the insurance you have.

The message was not meant to be a prediction, but merely a confirmation that, even in the best of circumstances, you may not have the choice of keeping your coverage. The only surprise is how quickly close to 100,000 General Motors retirees lost their employer-sponsored coverage.

Last week’s message is very important. It lists a great many reasons why people do lose the coverage they have, and almost all of the reasons are beyond their control. The message should be used to counter those who contend that their proposal allows you to “keep the insurance you have.” It is available for downloading at:

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/july/keeping_the_insuran.php

Also, John Geyman, author of “Do Not Resuscitate: Why the Health Insurance Industry is Dying, and How We Must Replace It,” on July 16 posted on the PNHP Blog the entry, “Choice in Private Health Plans: Is It Real?”