DETROIT—General Motors Co., once known for its rich and expensive health care benefit programs, is continuing to trim benefits and is moving to consumer-driven health care plans for both its salaried employees and retirees.

GM will offer only high-deductible CDHPs to its 24,000 salaried employees, effective Jan. 1, 2010.

GM salaried employees will choose from two plans, both linked to health savings accounts. Under one plan, the deductible will be $1,300 for single coverage and $3,100 for family coverage, with a maximum annual out-of-pocket expense of $2,200 for those with single coverage and $5,000 for family coverage. Employees will pay monthly premiums ranging from $5 for those with single coverage to $15 for those with family coverage.

In the other CDHP, deductibles also will range from $1,300 to $3,100, but GM will cover all eligible in-network expenses after the deductibles are met. The monthly premiums for that plan will range from $25 for individual coverage to $75 for those with family coverage.

In addition, GM will contribute $1,300 to employees' HSAs. That contribution is intended to help employees pay for uncovered health care expenses and to help them accumulate funds to pay for health care expenses after they retire, a GM spokeswoman said. GM salaried employees hired after 1993 are not eligible for retiree health care coverage.

In moving to a CDHP, GM is trying to better control costs, while still offering a competitive health care benefits program, the GM spokeswoman said.

On the retiree side, GM will replace its traditional health care plan for salaried retirees younger than 65 with a CDHP linked to health savings accounts effective Jan. 1, 2010.

Under the new arrangement, posted on a GM retiree Web site, the annual deductible will be $2,500 for individual coverage and $5,000 for family coverage. The maximum annual out-of-pocket expense will be $3,500 for individuals and $7,000 for families.

After deductibles are met, GM will pay 80% of the cost of medical services and prescription drugs delivered through in-network providers and 60% of out-of-network costs. However, certain preventive services that include annual physicals, mammograms, prostate and colon cancer screenings will not be subject to the deductible.

In addition, certain preventive generic prescriptions, such as cholesterol-lowering medications, will be subject to smaller copayments—$10 for a prescription from a retail pharmacy and $20 if filled through mail-order pharmacies.

In 2010, salaried retirees with individual coverage will be allowed to contribute up to $3,050 to HSAs, while retirees with family coverage will be allowed to contribute $6,150 to an HSA. In addition, retirees age 55 and older will be allowed to contribute an additional $1,000 a year to their HSA in catch-up contributions.

Retirees will be allowed to establish an HSA at a financial institution of their choosing. However, GM will pay administrative fees of HSAs that are set up with Bank of America Corp.

Monthly premiums for the retiree CDHP will range from $150 for individuals to $253 for families.

GM will allocate $260 a month to retirees' health reimbursement arrangements but will halt those allocations when salaried retirees turn 65.

The move to high-deductible CDHPs is a big change for a company once known for its lavish health care benefits program.

But in the face of massive losses, culminating in a bankruptcy filing earlier this year, GM has cut back those programs. Among other changes, it recently eliminated, as part of an agreement with the United Auto Workers union, vision and dental care benefits for UAW-represented retirees.