Rich,
So sorry to hear about your situation. A lot of the bigger companies are using this as an excuse to try to bail on their obligations. Several have recently gone to the federal government (including Ford) and said, "Well, you either have to let us out of our pension obligations, or we'll just have to lay people off."
Of course, there's no point to it, because they'll lay the people off later anyway.
Pensions and insurance are things that are promised by companies to pay for loyalty, to entice their employees not to bring their skills to the competition. What they've promised for 20, 30 or more years, they should be legally obliged to pay.
Nor should they be allowed to simply drop off people on the curb. Ford and GM chose to desert most of their US workers and build cars in Mexico. Now they've dropped a large segment of their remaining American employees. I'm not sure how they even qualify as being considered "American" companies anymore.
Ford and GM said they couldn't make a profit using the American worker. Honda and Toyota make their cars in the US, using American workers. And Honda is still profitable, and Toyota now leads the pack. Looks like GM and Ford were full of beans.
I'd hate to see them bailed out now that they've already "dumped" good people like Rich without a second thought. The bailout is all American taxes, and should be earmarked to save only American jobs.
Many of us are in similar boats, or can see where we may be soon. This is one time where there's little comfort in numbers.
I know how critical it is to keep our insurance, as we're not coverable for heart issues if there's a break. I hope you'll be able to maintain it, and maybe the new insurance regs that require coverage despite preexisting conditions will be passed next year.
Be well,
