McClatchy Co., which owns 30 local daily newspapers in the U.S., will end its retiree health care insurance program at the end of 2014, according to Bloomberg. The company decision was made in anticipation of President Obama's new health care law.
From Bloomberg's report:
While McClatchy will continue offering its insurance program until Dec. 31, 2014, the coverage doesn’t meet the requirements of the new legislation, according to a Sept. 10 letter obtained by Bloomberg News. That means retirees won’t be able to use it as their main health plan. The move will affect 51 people, McClatchy said in a separate statement.
The Sacramento Bee, McClatchy's flagship paper, endorsedPresident Obama for reelection in 2012. "While there still is much work ahead to implement health care reform and hold down medical costs, this law holds the promise of extending health care coverage to 36 million Americans," the publication editorialized at the time. "Obama has good reason to be proud of 'Obamacare.'"
The Rock Hill Herald, also a McClatchy paper (and the paper of my college town, Rock Hill, S.C.), endorsed Obama in 2012 as well. "Once fully in place," the paper wrote, "this landmark program [Obamacare] would provide access to health insurance for 45 million Americans who now are without it and, according to projections by the Government Accountability Office, significantly reduce the cost of health care over time."
We asked the Herald's opinion page editor, James Werrel, if he had any comment on the matter. "I'm not really aware of McClatchy's decision," he told TheBlaze, but did acknowledge that the paper has endorsed both Obama and Obamacare "numerous times." He directed us to the paper's publisher, Debbie Ables, who we've also requested comment from.
The opinion editor from the Sacramento Bee hasn't gotten back to us yet.
