Facts About Wal-Mart And Health Care

“There are government assistance programs out there that are so lucrative it’s hard to be competitive, and it’s expensive to be competitive,”

-- A galling statement from Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott [St. Louis Post Dispatch, 04/06/05]

Background on Wal-Mart Health Insurance: Scant Coverage, High Costs

· Wal-Mart Covers Just 41 Percent of its Employees: In January 2005, Wal-Mart launched the website walmartfacts.com; CEO Lee Scott said its aim was to provide the “unfiltered truth” about the company. According to walmartfacts.com, Wal-Mart employs more than 1.2 million workers in the United States and Wal-Mart insures more than 500,000 of its employees under their health plan. Therefore, according to Wal-Mart’s own figures, the company covers only 41 percent of its employees. [USA Today, 1/13/05; Wal-Mart Fact Sheets, http://www.walmartfacts.com/newsdesk/wal-mart-fact-sheets.aspx (internal calculation)]

· Wal-Mart Offers Substandard Coverage. Wal-Mart provides health-care options to their employees and families that have a deductible of $1,000. Wal-Mart employees must endure long waits to qualify for benefits: six months for full-time employees and two years for part-time employees. [Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/16/05]

· Wal-Mart Under-Spends on Benefits. According a Harvard Business School case study, “In 2002, Wal-Mart spending on health benefits for the 500,000 employees covered in the United States averaged an estimated $3,500 per employee, versus the $4,800 for the wholesale/retailing sector and $5,600 for U.S. employers in general.” [Ghemawat, et. al., “Wal-Mart Stores in 2003,” Harvard Business School, Case Study 9-704-430, 1/30/04]

Taxpayers Pick-Up the Tab When Wal-Mart Strands Employees on Public Programs for Health Benefits: Wal-Mart employees in states across the country are forced to rely on taxpayer funded programs for health care coverage for themselves and their families. To date, the following 14 states have identified Wal-Mart employees receiving public health care coverage: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. [Montgomery Advertiser, 2/22/05; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/17/05; Arizona Republic, 1/01/05; Hartford Courant, 3/4/05; St. Petersburg Times, 3/25/05; Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/27/04; Associated Press, 3/4/05; Associate Press, 5/15/05; Boston Globe, 2/2/05; Knoxville News-Sentinel, 1/30/05; http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/texaschip.pdf; Seattle Times, 2/21/05; Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), 12/26/04; Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), 11/4/04]

Wal-Mart Opposes State Legislative Initiatives Aimed at Expanding Health Care

Maryland Passed Historic Legislation to Increase Employer Health Care Benefits for Workers.

The [Maryland] General Assembly this session passed legislation - which effectively applies only to Wal-Mart - that requires companies with at least 10,000 employees to spend 8 percent of their payroll on worker health care or pay the shortfall into a state fund. It was the first bill of its kind nationwide. … Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has said he will veto the bill, though legislators appear to have enough support for an override. [Baltimore Sun, 5/7/05]

® Gov. Ehrlich Stood With “Grateful” Wal-Mart COO to Veto Historic Health Insurance Legislation. On May 19, 2005, Gov. Bob Ehrlich scheduled a public ceremony to veto the landmark health insurance legislation. Wal-Mart Chief Operating Officer Eduardo Castro-Wright was on hand to attend the official veto of the bill. “We are so grateful to the governor for doing what is right and drawing a line and vetoing this bill,” Castro-Wright said. [Associated Press, 5/19/05]