Ford to Limit Spousal Health Care Benefits

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. plans to charge an additional fee for salaried employees who want to have their spouses included on the company’s health care plan. The fee would only apply to spouses who can access health benefits elsewhere.

Salaried employees who decide to have their spouses covered at Ford, even though the spouses might be eligible for medical and dental coverage elsewhere, will pay $110 a month for medical coverage and $11 a month for dental care, Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said Wednesday.

Evans said Ford is committed to providing quality health care for its employees but it “has to balance the cost of health care that it faces, the increase of costs that it faces every year.”

Ford spent $3.5 billion on health care expenses in 2005, compared with $3.1 billion in costs the previous year. The automaker has not projected how much it expects to spend on health care this year.

Chrysler Group, a division of DaimlerChrysler AG, meanwhile, was expected to outline changes in its health-care coverage for salaried workers and retirees Wednesday afternoon.

Ford has about 40,000 salaried workers in the United States and provides health-care benefits for about 590,000 white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, retirees, spouses and dependents, the automaker said.

The charges take effect June 1, when Ford’s new benefit year begins. Open enrollment for the program begins March 28. The automaker first announced the changes in December.

Employees who cover a spouse who is not eligible for health care benefits elsewhere will not face the surcharge, Ford said.

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Ford Motor Co.: http://www.ford.com