Biting The Bullet

"UNACCEPTABLE." IT IS EASY TO SEE WHY G. RICHARD Wagoner, chief financial officer of General Motors, used that term to describe his company's health- care costs. GM will report a loss of about $23.5 billion for 1992 -- the largest in U.S. corporate history, almost all of it due to the costs of health care for the company's 594,000 retirees and their families. Forced by new accounting rules to reflect the burden of its retiree benefits more clearly on its books, GM had to bite a $20.8 billion bullet. Two months ago, Ford took a $7.5 billion hit for the same reason. Those generous promises made to workers over the years have turned out to be far more expensive than anyone expected, since advances in medicine mean that people live longer after retirement and require more care. Many U.S. firms are slashing or eliminating their retiree benefits. GM, which will open talks with the United Auto Workers this summer, is expected to press for relief on health outlays for both its 380,000 current workers and its retirees.