Organizing for America | Jennifer Marion's Blog: Wal-Mart increases enrollment in its health care plan

Wal-Mart increases enrollment in its health care plan

By Jennifer from Washington, DC - Jan 25th, 2008 at 11:35 am EST

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Wal-Mart reported this week that, for the first time in the company's history, more than 50% of its employees had enrolled in the company's health insurance plan. This is up from about 45% of its employees five years ago, and it means that Wal-Mart now insures significantly more of its employees than Target, which insures 40% of its workforce. Wal-Mart was able to increase enrollment by offering a wider range of premium/deductible combinations, allowing people to enroll after one year of employment (as opposed to two), and eliminating certain fees. Now, 92.7% of Wal-Mart's workforce has health insurance either through the company, a spouse's plan, Medicaid, or some other source.

I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart because of its various, well-reported labor practices. I am willing to admit, however, that this is a step in the right direction. Of course, as pointed out in the linked-to article above, 7.3% of Wal-Mart's workforce still thinks it is better to have no insurance than to enroll in Wal-Mart's plan. This might be in part because some of the plans with low premiums have deductibles as high as $2000 for an individual – this equals 10% of the average Wal-Mart employee's $20,000 annual earnings. Still, a step in the right direction is always a good thing, as long as the company keeps working to increase participation.

The question is whether there is anything we can learn from what Wal-Mart has done. What do you think?

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