Healthcare cuts could come to spouses

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Healthcare changes coming this year could affect you or your spouse. Fallout from certain parts of the Affordable Care Act has taken away healthcare from some Hoosiers.
    
2013 is the year the Affordable Care Act becomes reality. For employers that could see a rise in insurance fees for them, so many have begun looking at ways to cut costs.

"They have to cover kids up to age 26, but there's nothing in the law that says they have to cover spouses,” Indiana State Economist Robert Guell PhD explained

Guell said it's one of the unintended side effects of the Affordable Care Act. Insurance costs going up for businesses and companies looking for a way to pay the new bills, start right there.
    
We posted a question online about workers having their spouse dropped from their insurance and immediately we got responses from folks saying it's already in the works for them.

"It turns out spouses end up costing health systems more than employees do,” Guell said.
    
Now it’s not all spouses. Dropping non-working spouses has been done, but these cuts focus more on those that work.

In most cases, working spouses are being dropped if they are able to get insurance through their own employer.
   
Dr. Guell says this side effect of the new laws is what happens when companies control health care plans through the affordable care act.

"(The Affordable Care Act) which doubled down on the very worst aspect of the American health care finance system, that it's tied to your employer, no body else in the world does it that way,” Guell said.
    
Several different reports indicate that the some local schools and even the city of Terre Haute are looking at spousal carve-outs as well.
    
We spoke with the mayor's office, but they could not confirm this and wouldn't comment on the matter.