At Wal-Mart, a Health-Care Turnaround

[Omaha Steve]

Sprawl-Mart, Always low wages. Marta and I won't shop there.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021204096_pf.html

Once Criticized, Company Is Now an Innovator in Employee Coverage

By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 13, 2009; A01

Washington policymakers contemplating a fundamental overhaul of the nation's troubled health-care system may want to study the saga of Wal-Mart.

Once vilified for its stingy health benefits, the world's largest company has become an unlikely leader in the effort to provide affordable care without bankrupting employers, their workers or taxpayers in the process. From its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., the retailer is doing in the real world what many in Washington are only beginning to talk about.

At a time when other firms are scaling back or eliminating health coverage, Wal-Mart has made a serious dent in the problem of the uninsured. New figures being released today show that 5.5 percent of its employees now lack health insurance, compared with a nationwide rate of 18 percent.

The company has also put into practice many of the innovations that experts say will lead to higher-quality, more efficient care. Using its high-tech marketing savvy, Wal-Mart has introduced digital records, partnered with prestigious organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, and begun targeting costly health problems such as obesity and premature births.

Yet for all of Wal-Mart's achievements, the story of its immersion in the world of health policy is also a warning about the depth and breadth of one of the thorniest challenges facing the country today.

In attempting to strike a balance between healthy profits and healthy workers, Wal-Mart, like many businesses, still falls short of the comprehensive care that President Obama says he wants for Americans.

FULL story at link.

[customerserviceguy]

1. I figured so

Read the article, and Mall-Wart gets by with do-nothing hyperexpensive catastrophic "care" policies. These are the products developed for the Health Savings Account model of healthcare, where you have a policy that costs just a very little less than a fully comprehensive policy, where you have to shell out all kinds of money before they even have to be bothered to add up the receipts you might want to send them. They're really only of minor use if you have a one-in-a-hundred sort of medical expense that comes from a major traffic accident, or something on the scale of a heart attack. Even then, you are left with so many co-pays, deductables, and "we just don't cover that" type of expenses, you will end up filing for bankruptcy anyway.

But Wally World's doing their part, aren't they?!! I'd bet that a deep forensic audit would show there were kickbacks to Bentonville from the "insurer" that is involved.

[catnhatnh]

2. Here's what I want done...

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Wal-Mart contracted with the Mayo Clinic for all transplant services, calculating that it could save money by using a single provider with a sterling performance record.

Whether purchasing toasters or transplants, "Wal-Mart looks for value," said Brooks Edwards, director of Mayo's transplant center in Rochester, Minn., one of several Mayo centers around the nation. "One of the most cost-effective things we do is weed out the patients that don't need a transplant."

Where other medical centers might recommend a heart transplant, for example, Mayo might opt for a simpler valve surgery.


Because I'd hate to be a drain on the system....Oh, and that shining success:Of the company's 1.4 million workers, 52 percent are in a Wal-Mart health plan.

[kernelfarmer]

3. Medicaid is the insurer of choice for most Wal Mart employees

My wife used to do child care for a single mother who was employed at Wal Mart. When this young lady went in for her yearly review, her manager told her that they were "doing her a favor" by witholding a raise. You see, if she "made too much money," she (and her daughter) would lose all of the great benefits provided by the state, i.e. food stamps, medicaid, WIC, etc.

It was when i heard this that we decided, absolutely no more shopping at Wal Mart. And, we've stayed true to that promise for over 6 years now!