GraniteGrok

In one of our local papers, The Laconia Daily Sun (not online...darn it!), one of the Letters to the Editor decided to berate Walmart.  Once again, there is a false assumption right from the get go which I will address at the end

To the editor:

Recently, Wal-Mart confirmed that over half of its employees, 53 percent, are not covered under the company's healthcare plan.

And I can see that being true, as I have heard that many of Wal-mart's employees are part-time.  However, being the sort of guy I am, I decided to do just the little bit a research and went to the Wal-Mart site:

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Jan. 11, 2007 – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., (NYSE: WMT) released its recent benefits enrollment numbers today. The company reported that enrollment numbers and survey data indicate that 90.4 percent of associates have health coverage, whether through Wal-Mart or another source such as a spouse, Medicare, a parent, another employer, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or other government programs.

This year’s open enrollment period represents a nearly 8-percent increase in the number of eligible associates who signed up for Wal-Mart’s plans. There was also an 11.3-percent increase for enrollment in its “associate-plus-children” offering.

Additionally, Wal-Mart’s open enrollment surveys, with more than 200,000 participants, indicated that 43 percent of associates have health care coverage through another source, bringing the total to 90.4 percent for associates who have health insurance through Wal-Mart or another source. Associates receiving health care from other sources cited the following for their health care coverage:

• 22.2 percent – Spouse;
• 4.5 percent – Medicare;
• 4.2 percent – Parents, school or college;
• 3.4 percent – Another – or a previous – employer;
• 2.5 percent – Individual policy;
• 2.3 percent – VA or military;
• 1.9 percent – Medicaid;
• 1.2 percent – State program other than Medicaid; and
• 0.8 percent – Another source than those listed above.

And one has to remember, which Ms. Wederski does not mention, is that a lot of companies do not offer benefits to those that do not fit certain criteria....this will certainly skew the data...and thus her overly-broad claim of hurtful behavior.

Despite these shameful numbers, Wal-Mart is trying to mislead the public by falsely claiming that its health care plans have actually improved.  Here are the facts.  Last year, Wal-Mart told the press that it provided company health care to 638,000 employees.  Now, Wal-mart claims it provides company health care to only 636,391 employees, a decline of nearly 2,000 employees.

I just have to laugh - in a company the size of Wal-mart, 2K employees is literally a drop in the bucket -  0.31%.  Heck, a bigger percentage probably calls in sick on a given day.  If they only lost that number of people from one year to the next, so what?  Now, to be fair, I do not know the churn rate in relationship to other retail establishments, but to rake Wal-Mart over the coals for this is kinda silly.....and adds nothing to her argument.

Contrary to Wal-Mart's publicity stunts, the reality is that the Wal-Mart health care crisis is getting worse.  In fact, in the last few months, Wal-Mart has decided to eliminate its traditional and standard health care plans for all new hires leaving only a high-deductible, catastrophic health care plan and President Bush's privatized health saving accounts.

Worse?  And by what measure?  The only measure that she uses is that Wal-Mart is switching to another form of insurance.  Now, since she is from the Central NH region, she should be aware that Concord General Hospital has done a similar thing - but for ALL of their employees.  In fact, I have the feeling that businesses all over are mulling over doing the same....but more on this later.