The Dana deal, which is similar to one Goodyear adopted last year, provides a roadmap for Detroit to get out from under its crushing medical costs. The stakes, though, are considerably higher for the Detroit Three, which have health-care obligations of more than $100 billion, according to Goldman's Barry. By some estimates, GM, Ford and Chrysler would have to kick in $60 billion to $70 billion to fund such a trust. While the savings down the road would be huge, coming up with that kind of scratch now will be tough for downtrodden Detroit.

That's where this big garage sale comes in. GM just sold its profitable Allison Transmission business for $5.6 billion and last year sold a controlling stake in its lucrative finance arm, GMAC, for $14 billion. (The buyers have mostly been private-equity players, like Cerberus Capital Management and the Carlyle Group, who see Detroit eventually turning the corner.) Ford appears on the verge of selling Jaguar, Land Rover and possibly even Volvo for as much as $16 billion. And Chrysler is about to receive a life-saving $7.4 billion cash transfusion from its new owner, Cerberus. All that cash—along with lines of credit Detroit has mortgaged its future to secure—just might give America's automakers the money they need to offload their health-care plans onto their union.

The benefit to the UAW of such an arrangement is two-fold: members' health-care benefits would be protected if any of Detroit's automakers slip into bankruptcy. And auto bosses will no longer come after the union to give back health-care benefits.

On the other hand, if the union takes the wheel of its members' medical coverage, it might want to take a hard look at those benefits from a bygone age. According to the health-care cost comparison commission by NEWSWEEK, the average American family now pays $1,500 to $2,000 in deductibles to its PPO. But UAW members at Chrysler, for example, pay $200 to $1,000 for their family PPO coverage. That is unless they take the standard Blue Cross plan (remember that?)—which has no deductibles, but requires employees to cover routine office visits. (Hospital stays and surgeries, though, are fully covered.) And then there are those prescription co-pays, which can really add up for most of us. The average American family pays $10 for generics and up to $70 for brand-name drugs. But at GM, Ford and Chrysler, it's just $5 for generics, $10 for brand names and $15 for Viagra and other erectile- dysfunction drugs, which have proven popular among aging autoworkers. If the union starts dispensing those med plans, though, autoworkers might find it more difficult—and expensive—to feel the love.

© 2007