Wal-Mart expected to expand its benefits
Posted on Friday, February 24, 2006
Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott is expected to announce improved insurance benefits for part-time employees when he addresses the National Governors Association summit Sunday in Washington.
Scott also is expected to tell the governors that the world's biggest retailer will fight health insurance legislation, called "Fair Share"bills, proposed in more than two dozen states. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has championed the bills, saying they would "stop large, profitable corporations - like Wal-Mart - from freeloading off their communities and shifting their employees'health care insurance costs onto workers, taxpayers and smaller businesses."
The Fair Share Health Care Act, the first of its kind, passed recently in Maryland. The bill requires any company with 10, 000 or more workers to spend 8 percent of its payroll on health insurance. The bill inspired similar proposals in other states.
Wal-Mart had a dual response. It denounced the bill yet pledged to improve health coverage.
At the governors' meeting, Scott "is going to be very matter-of-fact and tell them the Fair Share bills don't solve our country's health-care crisis,"Wal-Mart spokesman Mona Williams said. "We're going to push back. We're going to fight the bills in legislatures and in court."
Williams declined to state how many workers are part time. Wal-Mart covers fewer than half its 1. 3 million U. S. workers, although Williams noted many employees are covered by a spouse's or parent's health insurance from their employers.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. issued a statement Thursday outlining the health-care upgrades, aimed mostly at part-time workers, Scott is expected to discuss in his Sunday speech.
The waiting period for parttime workers to become eligible for insurance would decrease from two years. Williams said the new waiting period would be set in the next few months.
The company also said parttime workers' children will be eligible for health insurance for the first time. It will expand an $ 11-per-month basic insurance policy to half its workers by 2007.
Wal-Mart Watch spokesman Tracy Sefl, whose union-supported organization lobbies Wal-Mart for reforms, said the plans require policyholders to pay $ 100 for an ambulance ride, which he said can make emergency hospital visits expensive.
Wal-Mart has nine in-store health clinics available to the public and employees, and the company said at least 50 more will be added this year. Williams said Bentonville-based Wal-Mart cannot set the prices the clinics charge.
"We're basically leasing space in our store to health-care professionals,"she said. "But when we interview potential lessors, we can assess whether the prices they charge would be reasonable for our customers."
She said the average cost of a doctor's visit at the in-store clinics is $ 45 to $ 50. In Northwest Arkansas, Wal-Mart recorded 4, 300 customers at three in-store clinics in six months.
Williams said all the healthcare upgrades were discussed privately last year. The costs already had been calculated into the budget for fiscal 2007, which began Feb. 1.
Advocates of the Fair Share bills said they believe Scott is using the NGA venue to court support from governors.
Wisconsin's Democratic governor pledged to pass a bill making it illegal for firms to push workers into a state health-care program after Republican legislators tabled a Fair Share bill. Maryland legislators overrode their governor's veto to pass their bill. The law faces a challenge in court by the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
Vinnie DeMarco heads a group of religious leaders, health-care activists, lawyers and merchants who championed the Maryland bill for years. He said Scott may spend Sunday cultivating the politicians with the power to veto Fair Share bills. But he hopes the CEO can become a catalyst.
"This speech would not be happening if it were not for the Fair Share bill,"DeMarco said. "Maybe Wal-Mart will decide one day to subsidize the in-store clinics so it can apply the same low-price strategy to doctors that it applies to suppliers."
He said he found some Wal-Mart proposals too cryptic to applaud.
"If they're cutting a month off the two-year waiting period for part-time workers, that's pretty bad,"DeMarco said. "If they're cutting it by over a year, that would be good.
"It's great news to hear children of part-time workers will be eligible now,"he added. "Many low-wage workers enroll in Medicaid primarily for the sake of their children."
Last year, the Arkansas Department of Human Services tallied state companies with the most workers on public assistance. Wal-Mart topped the list, with 3, 971 of its 45, 106 Arkansas workers, or 8. 8 percent of its Arkansas work force, were on public assistance. The vast majority of those workers were enrolled in Medicaid.
One hundred of Target's 1, 200 Arkansas workers, or 8. 6 percent of its Arkansas work force, were on public assistance, according to the state study. Target Corp. spokesman Carolyn Brookter did not respond to requests for comment.
Other states released similar lists. California compiled its own list and found Wal-Mart workers used the state's taxpayer-funded health care 40 percent more than employees of other major retailers.
In Tennessee, 26 percent of Wal-Mart's workers were on Medicaid, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
State Rep. Jay Bradford, DPine Bluff, has a unique vantage point on the health-care crisis as president of First Arkansas Insurance. He said a law mandating what employers spend on insurance would help few uninsured Arkansas workers. His dream is for Wal-Mart to set an example in health-care benefits other retailers will follow.
Mark Federici, strategy director for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, said he shares that dream.
"Wal-Mart is so profitable, other retailers will follow its footsteps on any issue hoping that's the path to incredible earnings,"he said. Center for Policy Alternatives analyst Bernie Horn of Washington is elated that voters are passionately arguing over Fair Share bills. But he isn't sure Wal-Mart or Fair Share legislation can defuse a bomb. "Wal-Mart can't pressure and shove doctors as easily as if they were factory owners or suppliers in China,"Horn said. "Fair Share is not the solution to a crisis. It's more like a bandage for a bleeding wound. "It's hard to get Americans talking about a policy issue. The best thing about Fair Share is, it started a hell of a conversation we all need to hear on a critical topic."
To contact this reporter: ledwards@arkansasonline. com
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