NYT: Wal-Mart Says More Than Half Its Workers Have Its Health Insurance (1st time) [View All]

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/business/23walmart.html?ref=business

By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: January 23, 2008

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, said on Tuesday that for the first time in its 46-year history more than half its United States workers had enrolled in the company’s health insurance plan, a milestone for a retailer long criticized as offering unaffordable benefits.

The discount retailer said that after it introduced a revised health plan last fall, the number of workers who signed up reached 690,970, or 50.2 percent of its nearly 1.4 million employees.

The higher enrollment — which has risen from 45.5 percent of Wal-Mart’s employees five years ago — is expected to help blunt criticism from unions and political groups that have rebuked the company for insuring fewer than half of its workers. Wal-Mart’s enrollment now significantly exceeds that of its archrival Target, which provides health insurance to an estimated 40 percent of its work force.

After several years of intensive research and debate within Wal-Mart — including discussions with executives at companies known for generous health care like Starbucks, Pitney Bowes and Microsoft — the chain introduced last fall what was considered its most flexible and generous health plan, effective for the calendar year 2008.

The plan offered deductibles ranging from $350 to $2,000 for individuals. Employees could choose plans with health care “credits” to use for routine care and obtain 2,400 generic prescription drugs for $4 apiece.

Wal-Mart also eliminated fees like $150 monthly for covering a spouse and cut out separate deductibles, like an additional $1,000 for a hospital stay.

FULL story at link.