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Wal-Mart Increases Employee Health Benefits - by Dr. Sanjit Bagchi - Health Care News
Wal-Mart Increases Employee Health Benefits
Health Care News > February 2008
Economic Development
Economic Development > Wal-Mart
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Written By: Dr. Sanjit Bagchi
Published In: Health Care News > February 2008
Publication date: 02/01/2008
Publisher: The Heartland Institute

Beset by threats of tailor-made state and local laws intended to force it to increase workers' health care benefits, retail giant Wal-Mart is providing health coverage to more of its employees.
In 2008, Wal-Mart will provide employees with $4 co-payments for 2,400 generic drugs and will offer health insurance with monthly premiums as low as $5 to $8.
"The non-unionized Wal-Mart has taken a lot of heat on health care, including a custom-made bill in Maryland and copycat bills in other states mandating 'pay or play' rules for employee health coverage," noted Diana Ernst, a health care policy fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. "The company's new plan, however, has drawn praise from even its biggest critics."
According to a mid-September news release by the company, "Associates will now have more than 50 ways of customizing their health care coverage options, which will allow them to select various deductibles, health care credits [which enable employees to visit doctors and purchase prescription drugs without paying anything out of pocket], and premiums, depending on their needs. This is a substantial increase from last year, when most associates had only nine choices."

Better Insurance
For premiums of less than $5 a month in some regions and no more than $8 per month nationwide, associates will have individual health coverage including "a $100 health care credit, more than 2,400 generic prescriptions for $4, a $2,000 deductible, and no lifetime

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