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Looks like Wal-Mart is changing the game for new employees. The world's largest retailer said it would be changing the way it offers health care choices to new employees, giving new employees more money in their pockets to do with as they choose, insofar as having more freedom in a health care plan. Critics are already arguing that Wal-Mart is simply trying to push the burden of skyrocketing costs of health care onto new employees.As the new coverage options being supposedly more expensive than before, several industry watchers are calling this move bad for employees since rising costs means less affordability for the newer employees. With existing employees being able to keep their traditional coverage, this new plan will only affect new Wal-Mart employees, which seems a little odd. Grandfathering in older employees but having the appearance of "punishing" newer employees will be a perception Wal-Mart is certainly going to face, and soon.
The newer plans will have premiums that start as low as $11 per month, but will have much higher deductibles hovering at the $1,000 level. Wal-Mart said it based the changes on the notion than many employees were buying way more insurance than they needed, as internal surveys showed that half of all workers with company insurance used up less than their full deductible last year. This is not a good thing if true, since this mean these employees were paying more in premiums than they were receiving in benefits. But, this was for existing employees -- why are the new rules applying to new employees when it was the existing employees that had the concerns?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-27-2006 @ 9:56AM
Gary E. Sattler said...
What's this Walmart???
You recognize the problem but you issue a left handed crutch for a broken right leg?
Just another sign of the mass confusion at Walmart headquarters.
Cut premiums... good move. Increase deductibles... helps reduce abuse and instills responsible coverage usage, but make it a partially applicable change?
Yeah, let's pit the employees against one another. That'll be good for business!
GEES! Someone tell Sam that Captain Kangaroo has taken over chairmanship.
If I had Walmart shares I'd be dumpin' that toilet paper as quick as I could... while trying to hide the fact I ever owned it.
It's going to be a blue Christmas at Walmart!!!
Gary
9-27-2006 @ 10:29AM
Mike Magri said...
It's a sign of the times, look for much more of this across the board.
9-27-2006 @ 2:55PM
jim said...
you said..."This is not a good thing if true, since this mean these employees were paying more in premiums than they were receiving in benefits."
But what insurance company would pay out more in benefits than it receives in premiums?
9-28-2006 @ 1:28PM
Donald E. L. Johnson said...
Wal-Mart will make it easier for a lot of newer employees to obtain health insurance at affordable rates while making harder for people to game the system and inflate their peers' health insurance premiums.
What critics are saying is that they want Wal-Mart to setup a system that allows someone who's never bougtht health insurance to game the system. As soon as they get sick or are injured, they seek a job with a company that offers generous health benefits. They pay a month or two of premiums, get their medical care, which could cost tens of thousands to a million dollars, and then walk away or stop buying health insurance again.
So what the critics want is a system that allows people to game the system and cheat those of us who pay our monthly premiums. Wal-Mart has always had one of the smartest health benefits plans, and this looks like a very smart plan, too.