Wal-Mart to Shrink Options For New Hires' Health Care

[OhioChick]

By Ylan Q. Mui and Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 27, 2006; Page D03

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is scaling back the health-care plans available to new employees, sparking fresh criticism over whether the giant retailer is providing adequate coverage to its workers.

As of Jan. 1, the company will offer new hires only two health benefits packages in which the monthly premium can be as low as $11 but the deductible can reach $6,000, according to documents provided to The Washington Post by Wake-Up Wal-Mart, a union-backed group.

The company's two other benefit plans, which have lower deductibles, will no longer be offered to new employees. However, the plans will remain available to current employees who choose to renew their coverage.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said yesterday that he expected the change to save most employees money. He said a review of the company's health-benefits plans showed most had opted for a package with a monthly premiums between $70 and $100, and a $350 deductible, but that more than half never paid that much.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601469.html

[michaelwb]

1. Say what?

And what percentage of their annual salary would a $6,000 deductible be?!?

[Joe Bacon]

2. I'm sure there are plenty of Preachers who appreciate this move.

Yes, think of all the phony faith healers who see this as a gift from God!

:sarcasm: mode now off

[maseman]

3. $6,000 deductable?

This is highway robbery. Most of these people only make about $18,000 or less. These people are lunatics.

[Joe Bacon]

15. It's SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST in action.

Can you see a worse example of YOYO economics?

YOYO= You're On Your Own!

[monktonman]

4. Call me crazy

I just dont understand why a company with as much money as walmart doesnt have its own health care company.
Its not like they cant afford it.
Then they can give employees super cheap care and give the rest of us Wal-Health.
ok on second thought.......

[LiberalEsto]

5. WalHealth

WalHealth doctor: "I'm afraid you have terminal cancer. Take two aspirin -- you can buy them for less at WalMart -- and don't bother calling me back."

[Phx_Dem]

9. Walmart is an easy target

there are a lot of retailers that do not offer health benefits at all, Goodwill of Central AZ for example has hundreds of FULL-TIME retail workers that don't get any health benefits at all. This co. is a non-profit that is supposed to help people, but all they really do is provide good salaries for mgmt.

[mtnester]

6. In Ohio, $5.15 hour minimum wage x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks per year

= $10,712.00. If you are single, you are in the 15% tax bracket. That is $1606.80. That is FEDERAL tax. Take away another 7.65% for medicare and SS and that is $819.47. Take away another at least 1% city income tax, cause most of the Walmart's are inside some municipality that has an income tax..that is $107.12. Oh, and do that again cause in Ohio, most places also have a SCHOOL DISTRICT income tax (on top of property taxes)...deduct another $107.12.

So let's see:
$10.712.00 - $1606.80 - $819.47 - $107.12 - $107.12 = $8071.49 net...to live on, to pay for groceries, transportation, any vehicle insurance, rent/house payment, clothes, incidentals. That amounts to about $672.63 per month to do ALL of those things. We have not YET spoken of medical bills, dentist visits, prescriptions, etc.

Oh, and MOST of the time, Walmart is in an ABATED tax area or Tax Increment Finance zone.

And now you have a $6,000.00 deductible?

Walmart - screwing America to Death...knowingly.

I am literally humbled by the gross unfairness of this.

[_testify_]

7. I'm not defending them at all

but they pay more than minimum wage to start, even in states with no minimum wage law. I started at $7.50, not that it's that much better...

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. $672.63 a month to live on

That's what they get for working hard and trying to do the right thing? Now they add this new $6,000 deductible on top of that. That's right, they don't think your labor is worth a living wage, and they really don't care if you live or die. It's business and the bottom line is you're expendable.

For the people who wonder why crime rates are going up in their neighborhoods, here's the answer. Desperate people doing desperate things.

[Phx_Dem]

10. But how is that different from other retailers?

I personally support a living wage and universal health care, but I cannot expect companies to do this without a government mandate.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. I support raising the minimum wage to a minimum living wage

And I'm sick of hearing how that will destroy small business growth. I am a small business and I pay a starting unskilled entry wage of $15 an hour for labor. I realize that sounds low, but in my area the cost of living isn't very high and it's a decent starting pay. I have an extremely low turn over of employees in an area where the #1 complaint of business' is how hard it is to find good labor. They're not hard to find, I get several calls a month of people looking for work, they just won't work for free. How hard is that to figure out?

[Phx_Dem]

12. I agree

I think it is important for every company to be on an even playing field, and think it's a mistake to press for living wages state by state, the problem needs to be resolved at the federal level.

$15 per hour seems high to me, though I don't know what field you are staffing for. I start people out at $8-9 per hour for entry level retail positions.

[OhioChick]

13. Keep in mind......

Ohio just recently raised it's minimum wage to $5.15 this Spring. It was at $4.25.

~snip~

"Until this spring, the Ohio minimum wage was just $4.25 an hour."
http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/08/15/ohio-arizona-minimum-wage-increases-head-for-november-ballot/

[KamaAina]

14. Too bad Billy Preston died

the catchy slogan for the pre-shrunk Sprawl-Mart health "care" plan could've been "Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'... you gotta have nothin' if you wanna work for me..." :grr: