The Problem with Wal-Mart:
Employers who don't provide affordable coverage are abusing the system and their workers by passing the costs onto the taxpayers, other businesses and their workers. Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the US is also the largest abuser of the system. High insurance premiums and deductibles keep more than two-thirds of Wal-Mart workers—that's nearly 700,000 workers—from participating in the Wal-Mart health plan. Traditional supermarket employees have about 80% coverage.
| Fact: The Walton family is worth about $102 billion--less than 1% of that could provide affordable health care for associates. |
Wal-Mart workers who are covered by the company plan pay a huge percentage of the premium. The premium costs have skyrocketed over the past ten years—from 76%-244% increases depending on the coverage.
Wal-Mart says that the cost of its health insurance ranges from $114-$236 per biweekly pay period depending on the plan and the deductible. On a wage of $8.00 an hour with about 32 hours a week--$1,000 a month, most associates can’t afford even the low end range of Wal-Mart health insurance, $250 a month, or 25% of their gross income for Wal-Mart’s family health insurance.
There are more than 40 million uninsured working families. The more Wal-Mart grows so do the number of the uninsured.
Wal-Mart must be held accountable. Workers must demand full and affordable health care coverage. The public must demand that Wal-Mart stop putting their health care costs on the back of taxpayers. And elected officials at every level must demand that Wal-Mart pay its fair share if they want to do business in their communities.
America can't survive on a Wal-Mart paycheck. And workers aren't protected by Wal-Mart’s benefits package. The health care crisis cannot be solved until we mandate a universal employer-provided health care system in which all employers have to pay their fair share to provide affordable, good coverage for all its employees.
Next: The Solution
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