Ford's Chief Calls for Talks
On High Cost of Health Care
By JOSEPH WHITE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said Tuesday he wants to start an auto industry "dialogue" about health-care costs, and has assigned Vice Chairman Allan Gilmour to the issue.
"I'm not necessarily waving a banner for national health care," Mr. Ford told reporters in a briefing at Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. But "we need a new approach" to health costs, he said, adding that a new Medicare drug benefit could help.
High health costs could discourage auto makers from investing to create more jobs in the U.S., Mr. Ford said. Costs for health care add $1,200 to the cost of a U.S.-made car at Ford, he said.
Mr. Ford said the U.S. economy "clearly is getting better," but he said employment remains a "nagging issue."
"We have a lot of jobs going overseas," he said.
But he said Ford Credit, the company's finance arm, sees fewer loan delinquencies, a sign that consumer finances are firming up. |
