General Motors Corp recently announced that it will come down hard on those workers who have been collecting medical benefits for ineligible dependants. The number one auto manufacturer of the US is seeking to prune its massive health care costs which have been reported to run up to $5 billion a year.

A report in the Wall Street Journal cited GM spokesperson warning nearly 67,000 hourly workers that they have until August 20 to eliminate ineligible persons from health coverage provided by the company. After this period the workers would have to produce an official document as proof of the eligibility of the covered family members. In case the worker was proved to have claimed health benefits for an ineligible member, he would be compelled to compensate the company in monetary terms.

In the second quarter of this fiscal year, GM Corp posted a net loss of a whopping $15.5 billion. It plans to cut at least $10 billion in costs which include abandoning health care for retired workers, doing away with executive bonuses and even laying off white collar employees. While the company has undertaken an audit of its health care accounts in previous years, now it plans to take a much more serious view of the lapses in its health care programs.

-Kalyani Mookherji