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United Auto Workers Retirees Lose Benefits   

[By Darrell K. Pruitt; DDS]

It’s no longer just the recent rash of bad PR on the Internet that has some Delta Dental employees worried about losing their jobs. Okemos, Michigan, home to Delta Dental of Michigan is downstream from GM. If Delta employees are laid off because of decreased sales of benefits packages, Okemos will lose even more of its disappearing tax base. And, this week we learn that United Auto Workers [UAW] retirees will lose their Delta dental benefits in GM’s bankruptcy.

The Michigan Messenger

I discovered a short article today on the Michigan Messenger Website, written by Ed Brayton, titled “GM’s UAW retirees to lose Delta Dental coverage.”  Brayton closes with a sad lament: “It was only last November that Tim Daman, a Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce vice president, declared that with the office expansion, 2008 was ‘really Delta’s year.’ It appears that 2009 will not be.” Less than a year before Daman’s optimistic comment, Delta Dental announced that it was expanding its existing office space by 25,000 square-feet including 20,000 for a new data center. It’s unfortunate that the squandered money wasn’t spent on GM retirees’ teeth before they lost their dental insurance. Is it any wonder that Americans pay so much for so little healthcare?

Eyeing the Situation

And, what was Delta planning to do with that much data space anyway? Are Delta’s computers that huge, or was someone anticipating that future claims processing will require lots of soon to be unemployed Okemos citizens? I think if Colombo, a detective played by Peter Falk in a TV show long ago, were to cast his good eye on this situation with Delta Dental, he would see something odd about risking so much healthcare money on “data” rather than rewarding bonuses to executives who managed to save those huge amounts of money on payments to dentists. He’d scratch his head with the same hand holding a cigar, and say something like, “If Delta was willing to invest that much into say, a data mining project; they must have been planning on saving even more money on dental care for GM retirees somehow. Where was that money going to come from?

Public Relations Perspective

Ari Adler, the same Delta PR employee who a few months ago publicly announced that Delta Dental guarantees its dentistry, offered prepared statements about the bad news for Delta, but would not comment on how this enormous loss in business might ultimately change the company’s plans. He was only allowed to offer that the company is “studying the impact of this situation on the organization.” He assured Brayton that the building is going up as planned. I hope Delta doesn’t back out of its guarantees on fillings. That would be especially cruel to GM retirees.

More: GM’s UAW Retirees to Lose Delta Dental Coverage

Dental provider plans to offer special options for retirees, whose coverage could end as early as next month

By Ed Brayton 6/8/09 12:11 PM

http://michiganmessenger.com/20507/gms-uaw-retirees-to-lose-delta-dental-coverage

Assessment

It’s a real puzzler, Columbo. But, I’d bet you could figure it out by the end of the show. Peter Falk and family, I wish you the best.

Managing Editor’s Note: Dr. Dave Marcinko our publisher will be on a book and speaking tour in Michigan, and the Upper Peninsula later this month. He will be “signing and opining” – “preaching and teaching” to all ME-P advocates and others who attend. So, be sure to stop by any venue, and say hello. And, we will report back on his trip later this summer.

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/dr-david-marcinko%e2%80%99s-bookings/

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Filed under: Alerts Sign-Up, Breaking News, Career Development, Events-Planner, Health Insurance, Interviews, Managed Care, Marketing & Advertising, Media Mentions and PR, Practice Management, Research & Development, Sponsors | Tagged: Ari Adler, book tour, Darrell Pruitt, david marcinko, Delta Dental Michigan, dental insurance, Ed Brayton, General Motors, GM, GM bankruptcy, healthcare benefits, Lansing, Michigan Messenger, Okemos, Tim Daman, UAW, United Auto Workers | 8 Comments »