Working class America, already deeply in debt and struggling to survive in a bad economy just got worse news. Wal-Mart, the U.S.'s largest corporate employer with 1.4 million employees is slashing or eliminating medical coverage for new part-time employees and setting much higher deductibles and higher charges for many other employees and their families.
The reason they are doing this Wal-Mart explained is health care costs keep rising and Wal-Mart competes with firms that offer little or no such coverage. But this isn't just about Wal-Mart, it's about other employers as well who will follow Wal-Mart's lead to eliminate or cut their employee medical coverage as times grow harder. The New York Times reported this story and to learn more please see: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/business/wal-mart-cuts-some-health-care-benefits.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25
"Barbara Collins, a sales associate at the Wal-Mart in Placerville, Calif., said that the premiums for the H.M.O. plan for herself and her 5-year-old son would rise to $18 every two weeks from $10. Her big concern, she said, was that her deductible would jump to $5,000 a year, from $1,000 — a daunting amount considering she earns $19,000 a year. 'I don’t know how I’ll be able to afford it if I go to a doctor or to physical therapy,' she said." Nor do many other Americans including the 50 million of them that have no health care coverage at all. It is no wonder the U.S. economy is sinking.
Dick
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