United Parcel Service plans to remove thousands of spouses from its health plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere. The health care reform law requires large employers to offer coverage to employees and their dependents, but it does not require companies to cover spouses.
Some 15,000 working spouses eligible for coverage at their own employers will be excluded from the UPS plan in 2014, UPS said in a memo to employees. Rising medical costs, “combined with the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees at an affordable cost.”
“[W]e believe your spouse should be covered by their own employer,” the company said in the memo. UPS expects the move will save the company about $60 million a year. UPS spouses who are not employed, whose job does not offer health insurance, or who are covered by Medicare will be allowed to stay on the UPS plan. It applies to non-union U.S. workers only.