UPS Removes Spouses from Insurance, Blames Affordable Care Act
8 replies, posted
[URL]http://www.nbcnews.com/health/ups-takes-spouses-insurance-blames-obamacare-6C10975695[/URL]
[QUOTE]Partly blaming the health reform law, United Parcel Service is set to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere.
Many analysts downplay the Affordable Care Act’s effect on companies such as UPS, noting that the move is part of a long-term trend of shrinking corporate medical benefits. But the shipping giant
repeatedly cites the act to explain the decision, adding fuel to the debate over whether the law erodes traditional employer coverage.
Rising medical costs, “combined with the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees
at an affordable cost,” UPS said in[URL="http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/UPS-Spousal-Coverage.pdf"] a memo to employees.[/URL]
The company told white-collar workers two months ago that 15,000 working spouses eligible for coverage at their own employers would be excluded from the UPS plan in 2014. The Fortune 100 firm
expects the move, which applies to non-union U.S. workers only, to save about $60 million a year, said company spokesman Andy McGowan.
UPS becomes one of the highest-profile employers yet to bar working spouses from the company plan. Many firms already require employees to pay a surcharge for working-spouse medical coverage,
but some are taking the next step by declining to include them at all, consultants say.
[/QUOTE]
For those unfamiliar with America, UPS is not the United States Postal Service, and is in fact a private corporation.
What is the deal with healthcare reform?
Half the country wants it fixed, and the other half either doesn't or tries to make it so everyone's worse off afterwards.
I think even people who want socialized should admit this is being done very badly. 75% of the country doesn't support it. It is almost universally raising healthcare costs and making access to primary care much more difficult. That is the exact opposite of what healthcare reform should be doing.
You can't walk the fine line between a Private and Social system. As more of a libertarian I support a private system, but damn well pick one. Either way would work better than this.
I remember hearing Obamacare was written by Newt Gingrich and other top republicans in 1994 as a response to Clintoncare, which was a failed initiative by the then-President to reform the Healthcare system by making it Universal. Something like that.
Obamacare is a mess made up by Republicans. It was only passed because Universal Healthcare died in a Senate Filibuster (which should not exist), and Obama used the Republican bill as a way to get them to support it. Instead, they say it is the worst thing ever.
Funny how politics work in the US.
And do not take the complicated nature of the Healthcare bill as a real reason for all these companies being dicks. They are simply shafting their employees and using Obamacare as an excuse. Any large corporation can easily deal with the complicated law, and deal with the cost. What UPS is doing is just greed.
I got letters from my employer explaining that because of ACA, somehow, they will be cutting health insurance for part time people [i]they already covered before ACA ever passed[/i]. As in, they provided more coverage to more people than the law required before it was passed. Also ACA is apparently responsible for part timers having any and all vacation days revoked.
It's just corporate greed at work, management is jumping on an excuse to cut benefits and blame Obongo. They think it's better that employees go to work cursing Obama instead of cursing their greedy executive overlords and, I dunno, taking a Bushmaster to work one day and opening some new positions in management.
Obamacare was the worst thing that could have happened for socialized medicine and the like in the US. It has left such a bad taste in most people's mouths that it's going to be even harder now than it already was to get people here to warm up to the idea, lovely.
[quote]The company told white-collar workers two months ago that 15,000 working spouses eligible for coverage at their own employers would be excluded from the UPS plan in 2014.[/quote]
Well I know everything about my HMO's costs increased ~40% for my company (we have insurance in benefits) and my co-pay for a regular doctor visit went up 10$. And other stuff (like prescriptions) went up some.
So for me, 10$ isn't terrible when I have to go in (almost never).
I'm in good shape with health insurance and I can see this just being a massive amount of costs in just paperwork for anyone providing insurance.
Pick: Public or Private.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
