Reply #4: GM, Ford May Follow Chrysler in Negotiating New Health Care Agreement [View All]

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB402QBL6E.html

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the nation's two largest automakers, are reviewing their health care costs with the United Auto Workers and may follow smaller rival Chrysler Group in negotiating a new health care contract with the union, the UAW said on Monday.

Chrysler says its new health care pact with the UAW will save it tens of millions of dollars annually.

The agreement, which goes into effect April 1, requires around 35,000 Chrysler hourly workers and retirees to pay annual deductibles of between $100 and $1,000 for health care that previously had been free. The company declined to provide the specific amount it will save.

The change covers Chrysler workers in the company's preferred provider plans, or PPOs, but not the 75,000 hourly employees covered by the company's traditional health care plan or the 32,000 enrolled in HMOs. Those plans will continue to require no deductible, Chrysler said.

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