By Laura Hipshire
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

If you think automotive retirees are the only ones who will be on the receiving end of massive health benefits cuts, think again.

Many industries following suit
A study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates found that 11% of 302 large private-sector employers had eliminated paying for health benefits for future retirees in the past two years; another 10% said they would consider eliminating their subsidy sometime in 2007.

The Daily Mining Gazette out of Houghton reports that 181 Michigan Tech University retirees will see their university subsidy for health care premiums phased out over a seven-year period, as the institution faces a $47 million unfunded liability for retiree health benefits.

Currently, the paper reports, the university heavily subsidizes retirees’ health benefits with “revenue from premiums” totaling $492,000 compared to $1.2 million in total retiree health care costs. According to the article, by 2014, “the new premium for a retiree under the age of 65 . . . will be $1,541 a month, compared with $703 under the old plan.”

Automakers among first to cut benefits
Until now, many people in Michigan thought the “Big Three” automakers held a monopoly on health benefits cuts. Although many of their current workers and retirees are not the only ones to feel the pain, they will be among the first.

Ford Motor Company is cutting benefits for U.S. salaried employees as it  struggles to conserve cash after a $7.2 billion loss so far this year; the company is scaling back health care benefits and raising premiums, according to Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans.

Benefits no longer a “sure thing”
Evans says Ford will eliminate health insurance for Medicare eligible retirees in 2008 and raise health care premiums this year for employees by about 30%, the second straight year of increase.