GE saves $3.3 billion with cuts to retirees' benefits

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --General Electric (GE - Get Report) booked $3.3 billion in savings last quarter by widening retiree-benefit cuts from salaried positions to hourly production jobs, prompting a backlash from former employees who believed a career with the company would guarantee a comfortable retirement.

The savings on retiree benefits is the largest for the Fairfield, Conn.-based company since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. Starting Jan. 1, hourly production retirees who turn 65 by the start of 2018 will be cut off from GE's traditional retiree health plan and, instead, reimbursed about $1,000 a year on the cost of Medicare coverage supplements purchased through Towers Watson's (TW) OneExchange, the company said in a letter to employees. Current employees who retire by June 23, 2019, will be offered the same reimbursement.

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