Wal-Mart: Why won't it use its powers for good...in the case of health care for employees? by Microsoft Windows XP

Filed under: Bad news, Rumors, Wal-Mart (WMT), Employees

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) said this week that 90% of its workforce is insured. What it also mentioned, but with considerably less fanfare, was that less than half of those insured are actually insured through Wal-Mart's provider(s).

Wal-Mart seems to be doing what it does best: Lowering the bar for what employers can get away with when it comes to offering health benefits for employees. This is a shame, since through its sheer size alone, Wal-Mart could be a leader in forcing employee health care costs down.

The majority of Wal-Mart employees are either insured by a spouse (presumably one who doesn't work for Wal-Mart) or the government (in the case of senior citizens), or aren't insured at all. The company says it's looking into offering very low-cost benefits to employees in some regions, and continues to be concerned for the 9% who aren't insured at all.

Critics aren't impressed. "Wal-Mart uses its purchasing power to drive down prices from suppliers on any number of things," said Nu Wexler, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Watch, in a newspaper interview. "Yet they refuse to do so on health care."