H.M.O. on Wheels

A description of G.M.’s vast health care obligations.

Discussing the exposure of unsecured General Motors bondholders, John Curran reported for Time:

Another popular argument against bondholders is that they made bad investment choices, so their steep losses are well deserved. But union leaders in Detroit negotiated the richest benefits packages of any industry — G.M.’s health-care outlays grew so big that one Wall Street analyst dubbed the company “an H.M.O on wheels” — and that played some role in the declining competitiveness of G.M. and Chrysler. Don’t the autoworkers and their union leaders bear some responsibility for that?

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