Despite numerous tweaks to their health plan, Wal-Mart simply cannot offer an affordable plan to cover its workers. Lagging behind industry averages, Wal-Mart’s employees are subjected to unnecessary charges and fees; wait longer for coverage eligibility, and are forced to seek out public health programs to fulfill their health care needs. With less than 50% of associates choosing to participate in their plans, the Wal-Mart health plan is simply not working. - Walmart Watch
So what happens to employees that are either denied health care from Walmart or can’t afford the options that are presented to them? They turn to state funded programs and the cost goes to the Tax Payers– you. (Wal-Mart leads the list of companies with the most employees enrolled in state-funded health care programs for TWENTY FOUR states.)
Let’s do the math.
Walmart makes health care coverage inaccessible to employees –> Hard working employees look to the government to cover their costs
= walmart saves money
= a few executives and shareholders of Walmart make more money
= a lot of employees and their families are up to their own devices to find coverage
= a lot of tax payers cover the cost
All because a few decision makers on the top don’t believe that the employees who are mopping the floors or ringing up customers deserve the same health care that they themselves enjoy.
Until health care is universal, large companies need to be socially responsible to their employees in terms of health care. Unlike stock options or salary, no matter how insignificant or expendable they perceive another’s role to be– everyone in a company deserves the same health care benefits.
Above is something I wrote for a business ethics class three years ago. Since then, the largest private employer has announced that they have revamped their health care plan for employees.
Last time they did this, it was only for show. While they proudly announced health care changes to the critics outside, they simultaneously unleashed an internal memorandum that strategized ways to keep health care spending down (by hiring more part-time workers who are ineligable for benefits or hiring healthier employees overall). These shady cost cutting tactics only tarnished their reputation and ultimately hurt sales.
But apparently Walmart has learned from their mistakes and are finally making a genuine effort to offer their employees the health coverage they deserve.
I’m glad to hear that public pressure has finally convinced Walmart to take a step in the right direction. Never underestimate the power of ethical decision making.
1 Comment
November 15, 2007 at 1:48 am
Methinks it’s partially economics. It’s becoming increasingly expensive for Walmart to lobby against propositions that require employer’s pay for insurance, while companies like Costco, with generous benefits, sit on the sidelines.
I found it amusing that when Proposition 72 was being blocked, the list of companies on the “con” were Walmart, restaurants, grocery stories, etc. And the reason for con was that that increasing costs would mean that people would get services out of state! Haha, yes, because when I want to eat a burger, the first thing I do is drive to Nevada. :-D
Such as it is, health care is first a Public Good, but our fear of Moral Hazard has put us into the proposition that it should be privately paid and publicly subsidized. This results in an overproductions of goods such as cosmetic surgery and viagra and an underproduction of basic stuff such as basic health care and vaccinations.
If we want to fix the problem, we should stop incentiveizing corporations to act selfishly and myopically. They exist at the leisure of the public trust.
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