A front-page article on Thursday reported on the implications of the
newly negotiated contract between General Motors and the United
Automobile Workers union, including the impact of its terms on both the
company and its unionized employees. Among the provisions was a
voluntary employee benefit association, or VEBA, which will hold in
trust the money to provide health care benefits to union members. The
article said that under previous contracts, the medical benefits were
so generous that union members had little incentive to take better care
of their health. This unattributed assertion, unsupported by any
evidence that personal health habits are influenced by the level of
health care coverage, should not have been made. Link