Time Warner Joins IBM, GE: Moves Its Retirees Off Company Health Plan; Over To ObamaCare Health Exchanges

Updates

Up to 80 million could lose employer coverage; small business coverage -- Fox News, November 26, 2013. 
Firms punting employees to ObamaCare -- WSJ, September 26, 2013.
Time Warner, IBM -- leading the way for the future of health care -- Yahoo!Finance, September 16, 2013.
ObamaCare is killing traditional employer-sponsored health insurance, Forbes, September 23, 2013

OBCCS Meta-Lists 

IBD (via CarpeDiem)
IBD (via CarpeDiem)
 

Moving Retirees Off Company-Health Care Plans

Major companies, the list:

• Trader Joe's: privately held; part-timers moved;
• Time Warner:
• IBM: 110,000 retirees
• UPS: moves some spouses off their rolls; 15,000
• GE: was one of the first;  
• States: Washington State may;
• Cities: Chicago; 

Small businesses, the list:

• Extreme Dodge, Jackson, Michigan, one of top 100 automobile dealerships in US

Cost-Shifting

Target -- announced January 22, 2014; moving part-time workers off company health plan
Walgreen 
Sears Holding
Darden Restaurants
Indiana University 
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1,000 layoffs
Cleveland Clinics: 3,000 layoffs
Home Depot: 20,000 part-time workers off company health plan

Warning Shots Across The Bow

McDonald's franchisees
Small businesses, Minnesota case study

Original Post

I assume there are many, many companies doing this without headlines or fanfare, but with IBM earlier and, now, Time Warner, the die is cast. Companies are going to move their retirees off company plans and over to health exchanges.

I've maintained for quite some time that for investors, O'BamaCare will be good news.

First, companies will move their retirees and, perhaps even their employees over to the health exchanges. Besides saving money, this will make it much easier to budget. Instead of guessing how much their health insurance will increase in the out-years, companies can simply budget what they will contribute to employees to use as they wish signing up/not signing up at the health care exchanges.

Second, companies will move as many employees as possible to under 30 hours, decreasing still more the number of employees eligible for health care.

Kaiser noted this as far back as October, 2012: moving retirees off company-health plans.