UPS cuts insurance to 15,000 spouses

[DaveSimmons]

LOL. A slowing of increase (that is not a decline) but workers paying more is something you would link to as positive?

Jesus...

A slowing in the increase is a positive. Without ACA costs would be higher.

Employers passing on costs is not a positive, it's them squeezing employees "because they can" to maximize profits and their bonus checks. They'd be doing that with or without the ACA. Blaming the ACA is what they want the gullible to do. "Obama made me shift costs to you! I couldn't help it!"

 

[chowderhead]

Other companies are doing this, and more are going to do this with the increasing cost of health care and the impending disastrous obummercare regulations.

Basically, they're just going to have the employers certify that their spouse is not employed or eligible for other insurance coverage. You can lie and claim that she's not employed etc, but if they choose to investigate you could end up getting terminated or getting dropped from coverage if something happens to either of you.

I am tired of people blaming Obamacare as an excuse for cuts to health care. UPS made 1.07 billion dollars in profit last quarter. They are cutting costs because they are a corporation who wants to maximize profits. The middle class is getting squeezed. Eventually, these corporations will cut so much, people will not be able to afford their products and services.

 

[Mixolydian]

I'd probably tell UPS to go suck a d1ck. It's not like it pays that great to begin with and is a blue collar crap job anyway. If you can get a job at ups, you can get a job anywhere that covers spousal insurance.

LOL you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[OutHouse]

I am tired of people blaming Obamacare as an excuse for cuts to health care. UPS made 1.07 billion dollars in profit last quarter. They are cutting costs because they are a corporation who wants to maximize profits. The middle class is getting squeezed. Eventually, these corporations will cut so much, people will not be able to afford their products and services.

people like UPS??


http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/21/news/companies/ups-obamacare/

UPS blamed the move on several aspects of Obamacare, including mandatory coverage for dependent children up to age 26 and new government fees.

 

[chowderhead]

people like UPS??


http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/21/news/companies/ups-obamacare/

yes. 1.07 billion in profits last quarter and they want to discourage people from working for them by decreasing health care benefits.

 

[OutHouse]

Why should UPS subsidize the company employing your spouse? What if your spouse works for FedEx?



Or not. This is the second year in a row where the increase in costs has slowed:

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021652218_healthcostsxml.html

Reality does seem to have a liberal bias....

but still going up.

 

[DaveSimmons]

but still going up.

Going up less is an improvement over going up more. If the rate was +15%/year before EvilCare and it is +10% now, that is better not worse.

UPS blamed the move on several aspects of Obamacare, including mandatory coverage for dependent children up to age 26 and new government fees.

It's easy to pretend that Obamacare is the reason, even when it is not.

The company pockets the shifted costs, the gullible blame a Sekrit Muslim from Kenya.

 

[boomerang]

How they audit that I have no idea.

Yearly I was required to sign paperwork stating that my wife did not have coverage through her employer. Whether they ever verified that information I do not know, but it would be as simple as calling her employer to verify.

 

[chowderhead]

Yearly I was required to sign paperwork stating that my wife did not have coverage through her employer. Whether they ever verified that information I do not know, but it would be as simple as calling her employer to verify.

There are probably HIPPA regulations regarding disclosing coverage information to a third party.

 

[chimaxi83]

I'd probably tell UPS to go suck a d1ck. It's not like it pays that great to begin with and is a blue collar crap job anyway. If you can get a job at ups, you can get a job anywhere that covers spousal insurance.

Wrong with what part?

They don't pay that great. Maybe for low intelligence slackers who couldn't cut it in college its a decent job, but those people are the dregs of society anyway and don't count.

It's a blue collar crap job.. True.. Lots of physical labor, bad hours, etc.

hm.. yeah, I'm right again.

Gotta love idiots who base their "knowledge" on assumptions. Dumbass.

 

[sactoking]

Why should UPS subsidize the company employing your spouse? What if your spouse works for FedEx?



Or not. This is the second year in a row where the increase in costs has slowed:

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021652218_healthcostsxml.html

Reality does seem to have a liberal bias....

I realize this is ATOT and not ATP&N, but I would like to point out that the ACA is not a proven causative factor of the slowed increase in health insurance costs. The fact that they both track to 2010 shows potential correlation but absolutely does not show causation.

Another possible factor could be that after so many years of double-digit premium increases, employers began cutting the quality of the insurance offered to employees by rasing deductibles and cost-sharing. These raised deductibles and cost-sharing in turn cause consumers to use their doctors less, which reduces claims costs, which affects future rate increases as the utilization factor goes down.

That is a scenario that is certainly viable as well and just as correlated as the ACA. Don't forget the fact that while the ACA was enacted in 2010, the same time as the rate of premium growth slowed, most of the private-insurance cost saving measures haven't taken effect yet, so that would indicate that the ACA is not causitive of the preium growth slowdown.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Gotta love idiots who base their "knowledge" on assumptions. Dumbass.

Exactly. UPS drivers can make a hell of a lot of money. It's physically demanding, draining, and time consuming...I'd never do it but they are paid well.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I realize this is ATOT and not ATP&N, but I would like to point out that the ACA is not a proven causative factor of the slowed increase in health insurance costs. The fact that they both track to 2010 shows potential correlation but absolutely does not show causation.

Another possible factor could be that after so many years of double-digit premium increases, employers began cutting the quality of the insurance offered to employees by rasing deductibles and cost-sharing. These raised deductibles and cost-sharing in turn cause consumers to use their doctors less, which reduces claims costs, which affects future rate increases as the utilization factor goes down.

That is a scenario that is certainly viable as well and just as correlated as the ACA. Don't forget the fact that while the ACA was enacted in 2010, the same time as the rate of premium growth slowed, most of the private-insurance cost saving measures haven't taken effect yet, so that would indicate that the ACA is not causitive of the preium growth slowdown.

That's certainly possible, but at a minimum the ACA has not led to massive increases.

Those here blaming the ACA instead of corporate profiteering have their point undercut by the ACA not worsening the situation.

 

[CPA]

A slowing in the increase is a positive. Without ACA costs would be higher.

You have no idea if that's true.

Employers passing on costs is not a positive, it's them squeezing employees "because they can" to maximize profits and their bonus checks. They'd be doing that with or without the ACA. Blaming the ACA is what they want the gullible to do. "Obama made me shift costs to you! I couldn't help it!"

I work closely with benefits in my company and I can flat out tell you that my company is not passing all of the costs of ACA to it's employees. That said, it would be stupid to think they should eat all the costs themselves. If you owned a business, would you? You'd either pass it on to the employee or to the customer. Pick your poison.

 

[CPA]

That's certainly possible, but at a minimum the ACA has not led to massive increases.

Those here blaming the ACA instead of corporate profiteering have their point undercut by the ACA not worsening the situation.

ACA did not have any impact in 2013 except for a small excise tax based on the number of participants in your plan ($1/participant). So, it's no surprise that it hasn't increased costs yet. BUT, there will be huge cost increases next year. For the company I work at, it will be in the multi-millions just from ACA. Not trend or other business factors, just ACA. That doesn't included the forced increases in Out of Pocket and Deductibles that employees will have to incur due to ACA.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You have no idea if that's true.

I work closely with benefits in my company and I can flat out tell you that my company is not passing all of the costs of ACA to it's employees. That said, it would be stupid to think they should eat all the costs themselves. If you owned a business, would you? You'd either pass it on to the employee or to the customer. Pick your poison.

Does "the costs of ACA" at your company include the normal, expected increase in health insurance costs that would have happened with or without it?

Serious question: what are the AC-specific costs you're talking about that affect your employees?

 

[nageov3t]

There are probably HIPPA regulations regarding disclosing coverage information to a third party.

at the same time, if your SO contracts some really expensive illness and insurance wants to fight it, you're at risk for being SOL if you lied.

 

[Gunslinger08]

My wife and I are on separate insurance anyway. It is considerably cheaper to have separate "single" plans through our respective employers, given that single plans are typically 75%-100% subsidized.

 

[yuchai]

UPS probably offers pretty generous health benefits, and is therefore causing them to pick more than the proportion of spouses that they should be covering.

Now step into the shoes of UPS's management for a minute. How do you feel if let's say 75% of your employees cover their spouse, while looking at benchmarking data, the norm for other employers is only say 65%. Why should they be stuck paying for the health care costs for all these spouses, if they are offered coverage through their own jobs?

Businesses are not charities...

 

[yuchai]

Does "the costs of ACA" at your company include the normal, expected increase in health insurance costs that would have happened with or without it?

Serious question: what are the AC-specific costs you're talking about that affect your employees?

To be fair, there are quite a few things under the ACA that make costs go up for employer plans in 2014.

1. Transitional reinsurance fee. $63 per member covered in 2014. In other words, $1M for about every 16,000 members that is covered on the plan. This money is used to help stabilize premiums in the individual market, which is BS from an employer standpoint because they get absolutely nothing out of it.
2. Because of the individual mandate, some employees who currently don't take the coverage right now may come back in for 2014, increasing costs for the employer
3. There are also some new rules on plan design. Won't get into too much detail, but it involves mandating that copays have to count towards out of pocket maximums (often times they do not currently). Making changes to the plan to comply with this will also increase costs

 

[NetWareHead]

Wrong with what part?

They don't pay that great. Maybe for low intelligence slackers who couldn't cut it in college its a decent job, but those people are the dregs of society anyway and don't count.

It's a blue collar crap job.. True.. Lots of physical labor, bad hours, etc.

hm.. yeah, I'm right again.

You are an idiot

I worked for UPS but not as a driver but in their technology division. You know how you can check shipping status online? You know how you can log into a UPS portal and print labels, schedule a pickup, manage your account etc... etc... You don't have the slightest idea of the amount of technology UPS is involved with; all you see is a driver behind of wheel of a brown truck and you got it all figured out.

Idiot.

 

[Fritzo]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/21/news/companies/ups-obamacare/index.html?source=cnn_bin

In an undated memo to employees, UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) said it will discontinue coverage for all working spouses who are eligible for insurance with their own employer.


ok, how are they going to enforce that?
how will they know if their employee's spouse works? and if s/he does work, if their workplace offers health insurance?

i would just say yes she's unemployed and leave her on the plan.

I thought this policy was common practice in most companies/govt agencies- if your spouse has insurance available, they need to use that instead of company benefits. Not sure that's an Obamacare thing.

 

[mugs]

Wrong with what part?

They don't pay that great. Maybe for low intelligence slackers who couldn't cut it in college its a decent job, but those people are the dregs of society anyway and don't count.

It's a blue collar crap job.. True.. Lots of physical labor, bad hours, etc.

hm.. yeah, I'm right again.

Oh shut the fuck up you illiterate monkey. This only applies to non-union (white collar) employees.

What the fuck is wrong with you, calling people who work for a living the dregs of society?

Edit: my iPad left out some letters

 

[shadow9d9]

Other companies are doing this, and more are going to do this with the increasing cost of health care and the impending disastrous obummercare regulations.

Basically, they're just going to have the employers certify that their spouse is not employed or eligible for other insurance coverage. You can lie and claim that she's not employed etc, but if they choose to investigate you could end up getting terminated or getting dropped from coverage if something happens to either of you.

Keep toeing that party line... to a party that hasn't lifted a finger to do anything regarding healthcare in the last 100 years...

 

[Mixolydian]

What the fuck is wrong with you, calling people who work for a living the dregs of society?

We're not as good as he is. Ironically, UPSers probably provide a much more valuable service to society than his job does.