Bristling at health plan to cover early retirees

Within the battle over President Obama's healthcare overhaul, critics of organized labor have latched onto a little-noticed provision that would cost $10 billion in federal money to subsidize employer-sponsored health plans covering early retirees, as a bridge to Medicare. Labor's critics assert that the provision, aimed at retirees ages 55 to 64, is a Democratic payback to unions and would further drive up the federal deficit.