Wal-Mart Cuts Some Health Care Benefits

[joeybee12]

After trying to mollify its critics in recent years by offering better health care benefits to its employees, Wal-Mart is substantially rolling back coverage for part-time workers and significantly raising premiums for many full-time staff.

Citing rising costs, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, told its employees this week that all future part-time employees who work less than 24 hours a week on average will no longer qualify for any of the company’s health insurance plans.

In addition, any new employees who average 24 hours to 33 hours a week will no longer be able to include a spouse as part of their health care plan, although children can still be covered.

This is a big shift from just a few years ago when Wal-Mart expanded coverage for employees and their families after facing criticism because so many of its 1.4 million workers could not afford or did not qualify for coverage — rendering many of them eligible for Medicaid.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/business/wal-mart-cuts-some-health-care-benefits.html?_r=1&hp

Great...now our taxes will have to pay for their medicaid coverage.

[XanaDUer]

1. My deductible for one person next year

goes from $250 to $450. And I work at a hospital.

National Health Insurance now!

[subterranean]

6. I would love to have a deductible of $450!

The best I can afford is a deductible of $2,000 per person ($4,000 for the family), with a 20% copay after that.

And I concur: National Health Insurance now!

[cutlassmama]

8. same here.

[XanaDUer]

10. I am sorry about that

it will be a financial struggle for me, since I have to also pay for an uninsured person to have dental care.

[Scuba]

2. Hopefully this will help the Walton family put scraps on the table. n/t

[DainBramaged]

3. $126 a week, up from $84 and we changed providers

my drug co-pays are up 50%++, hospital stays, blood tests and mri's require a 20% co-pay, and ownership says we should be grateful. Oh and by the way, our deductible is $5000 for out of network.


I have $100 of prescriptions sitting waiting to be picked up that used to cost $45 because I can't afford them last week or this week or next week. And I need them desperately.


SO goes life under Republican corporate bosses.

[Modern_Matthew]

4. In 2014, they are going to cut out insurance completely and opt to pay the fines. nt

[Southerner]

5. What I pay has gone up considerably

I am a full time employee and the portion I pay for my company provided health care insurance goes up 32% for next year. This year it went up 30%. Prior years it was only going up about 6 to 8%. Company told us all of the expanded coverage now mandated by the government is the reason for the big increase.

The government should either pass legislation that allows for more free market competition of health care or give us universal health care. Not something that does neither.

[Bandit]

7. "Great...now our taxes will have to pay for their medicaid coverage."

How Republican of you....IMO our Taxes should pay for EVERYBODY'S Health Care...But I am a Liberal and believe in a Country taking care of it's citizens.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. This is shocking.

I'm shocked to learn they ever offered health coverage to begin with.