Business
Auto workers ratify insurance deal
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 23, 2006
United Auto Workers members voted to ratify an agreement the union forged with Ford Motor Co. that would save the manufacturer an estimated $850 million annually in health care costs.
According to the agreement, retirees and surviving spouses would pay $10 monthly premiums for individual health coverage and $21 for family coverage, plus deductibles. Retirees and surviving spouses drawing less than $8,000 per year in pension income would not be affected by the changes.
Active workers would defer about 99 cents per hour in wage increases into a retiree health care fund. They would have higher co-pays for prescription drugs, but they would not have monthly premiums or deductibles, according to the agreement.
Meanwhile, a federal judge last month granted preliminary approval to a similar agreement the UAW had forged with General Motors. The auto manufacturers have lamented their rising health care costs in recent years, but physicians in manufacturing states are concerned the higher costs for patients might force some to put off seeing a doctor. Reimbursement rates from health plans affiliated with the auto companies also could be negatively affected, they said.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/01/23/bibf0123.htm.
