General Motors Co. will replace its traditional health care plan for
salaried retirees younger than 65 with a consumer-driven health plan linked to
health savings accounts effective January 1, 2010.
Under the new arrangement, posted on a GM retiree Web site, the annual
deductible will be $2,500 for individual coverage and $5,000 for family
coverage. The maximum annual out-of-pocket expense will be $3,500 for
individuals and $7,000 for families.
A GM spokesman was not available for comment.
After deductibles are met, GM will pay 80 percent of the cost of medical
services and prescription drugs delivered through in-network providers and 60
percent of out-of-network costs.
However, certain preventive services that include annual physicals,
mammograms and prostate and colon cancer screenings will not be subject to the
deductible.
In addition, certain preventive generic prescriptions, such as
cholesterol-lowering medications, will be subject to smaller co-payments—$10 for
a prescription from a retail pharmacy and $20 if filled through mail-order
pharmacies.
In 2010, salaried retirees with individual coverage will be allowed to
contribute up to $3,050 to health savings accounts, while retirees with family
coverage will be allowed to contribute $6,150 to an HSA. Also, retirees age 55
and older will be allowed to contribute an additional $1,000 a year to their HSA
in so-called catch-up contributions.
Retirees will be allowed to establish an HSA at a financial institution of
their choosing. However, GM will pay administrative fees of HSAs that are set up
with Bank of America Corp.
Monthly premiums for the retiree consumer-driven health plan will range from
$150 for individuals to $253 for families.
GM will allocate $260 a month to retirees’ health reimbursement arrangements
but will halt those allocations when salaried retirees turn 65. GM, which
earlier this year filed for and then emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy
reorganization, eliminated health care coverage for Medicare-eligible salaried
retirees at the start of this year.
In addition, as part of a 2007 contract with the United Auto Workers, GM will
stop providing retiree health care coverage to UAW members effective January 1,
2010. Instead, it will contribute billions of dollars in cash and other assets
to a special trust controlled by the UAW.
Filed by Jerry Geisel of
= Member Only
