Wal-Mart to Expand Health Benefits
By Heather Landy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Apr. 18–Saying it wants to help lead the push for better healthcare, Wal-Mart is decreasing co-pays on certain drugs, expanding health benefits to employees’ children and reducing the waiting period for part-time workers seeking insurance.
Groups opposed to Wal-Mart’s growth are stepping up their criticism of the retail giant’s treatment of employees.
Susan Chambers, who oversees human resources as executive vice president of Wal-Mart’s “people division,” told executives and government officials at the World Health Care Congress in Washington that Wal-Mart will hold a special enrollment period in mid-May so employees can begin incorporating some of the changes into their coverage plans.
For part-time workers, the wait for benefits eligibility will be cut in half to 12 months, and coverage for their children will be available.
The reduced waiting period will make more than 150,000 part-time workers eligible for initial or enhanced coverage come May.
“Keep in mind that covering part-time employees is not the norm in retail. But every American deserves healthcare, and we want to lead by taking this step,” Chambers announced Monday at the summit. “We hope that others in the retail community will work with us to do the same.”
More changes, including increased contributions and company matches for health-savings accounts, will take effect in January. Co-payments on generic medicines for common conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and infections will drop from $10 to $3, and discounts of about 20 percent will be offered on prescriptions not otherwise covered by insurance.
The company will also provide employees a 10 percent discount on healthful foods including fresh fruits and vegetables at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores.
Wal-Mart employs 1.3 million people in the United States, more than 240,000 of whom are at least 55 years old.
Wal-Mart’s opponents strongly criticized Chambers last year when a memo she wrote to the company’s board was leaked, revealing her ideas for holding down spending on benefits without damaging the company’s image. Among her suggestions was increasing the percentage of part-time employees in each store and redesigning all jobs to include physical activity, a change that she said would help attract a healthier work force.
Wal-Mart currently provides insurance to more than 1 million employees through 18 plans, with coverage starting at $11 a month for individuals.
About 30 percent of employees join Wal-Mart without coverage. Some 160,000 previously uninsured people have gotten coverage through Wal-Mart’s plans, Chambers said in her address Monday, the text of which was posted on Wal-Mart’s corporate Web site.
And although 7 percent of employees are on Medicaid when hired, only 3 percent remain on the plan after two years of employment at Wal-Mart, she said. But the percentage of employees’ children covered through public assistance is much higher.
According to the memo Chambers wrote last year, 46 percent of Wal-Mart employees’ children are on Medicaid or uninsured. In the memo, Chambers said the statistics are on par for the retail industry, but she acknowledged that the public holds Wal-Mart to a higher standard because of its size and influence.
Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com, one of the retailer’s most vocal critics, said the changes announced Monday will not eliminate the difficulties many employees have paying for coverage.
“While this represents a first step to expand eligibility, none of Wal-Mart’s proposed changes address the fundamental problem with their healthcare plan — extremely high deductibles which poverty-level workers cannot afford,” Blank said in a statement.
But Chambers said the company will expand the availability of its Value Plan option, which carries an $11 monthly premium for employees and an extra $9 monthly premium for children.
Each person covered under the plan is entitled to three doctor visits and three generic prescriptions each year before the deductible kicks in, she said.
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Heather Landy, (817) 390-7725 hlandy@star-telegram.com
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Copyright (c) 2006, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
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