UPS Plans to Drop Insurance Coverage for Employee Spouses

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UPS Inc. is planning to drop about 15,000 employee spouses from its health insurance plan.

That’s according to Kaiser Health News.

The organization says it has obtained internal documents from UPS.

According to Kaiser, UPS will not foot the bill for non-unionized employee spouses if those spouses can get health insurance coverage from their own jobs.

An audio version of the story.

“UPS, in telling its workers, repeatedly cited the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, and said that part of the reason they could no longer cover working spouses is rising costs associated with the Health Act,” says Kaiser Reporter Jay Hancock.

Hancock reports UPS will save an estimated $60 million per year from dropping coverage for employee spouses.

However, the ACA has its supporters, who claim the program’s opponents are using money as an excuse.

“People who back the Health Act argue the costs for big companies associated with the ACA are pretty minimal compared to what else is going on in health care.  They discount Obamacare as a factor,” says Hancock.

UPS neither confirmed nor denied the Kaiser Health News report.

In an email to WABE, a UPS spokesman says the company will release relevant material at a later date.