Wal-Mart’s Announcement Leaves People Shocked

Mark June 30, 2009 down in your calendars people. It was a landmark day. The day that the Queen of England ordered an official swan census. The day that it was announced that daily sex improved your sperm count. Oh yeah, and it was the day that Wal-Mart announced that it supported employer-mandated health insurance.

Wait, what? Yup, you heard (or rather, read) right. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, the country’s biggest private employer, and possibly also the most controversial business in America, has announced its support for the overhaul of the health care system. Furthermore, Wal-Mart has announced that it would like this coverage to extend to both full and part time employees, and that policies should be put in place that reduce health care costs.

Reactions to this news have been mixed. Some laud the announcement as a milestone move towards better health care and worker benefits, while others question the motivations behind the decision—seemingly so out of character for a corporation that has been criticized for its’ stance on worker benefits.

Wal-Mart has been condemned in the past for offering just 43% of their employees health insurance. In addition, employees there faced higher costs for health insurance (up to 25% of their total income) and longer wait times to become eligible (only after a year could part-timers apply for insurance) than other workplaces. Nor could spouses of Wal-Mart part-time employees apply for family coverage. And the list just goes on: Wal-Mart invested just a half of a percentage point of their total profits in employee healthcare, Wal-Mart spends as much on health-care as it does on advertising, Wal-Mart pays for just 52% of premium costs while other retailers such as Sears pay 80%.

And while these critics might have some justification—a spokesperson for Wal-Mart let slip that an employer-mandated health insurance policy “would ultimately save companies money,”—it still does not change the fact that the 1.4 million Americans employed by Wal-Mart will be receiving health insurance in the near future.

Let’s hope that other companies follow their example.

Posted by:

Yolanda Clatworthy