well, huh

[saffronhare]

I heard a Wal-Mart commercial on the radio while driving home from work last night. Not weird on its own, but it was more of a statement than a commercial -- a statement about affordable health care. It seems Wal-Mart is very active and public about pushing for health care reform in America.

Well, huh. I've got some homework to do before I form an opinion about that...er, opinion. It just sort of stopped my brain in its tracks, you know?

Comments

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

That's really damn funny, considering the dirt I've heard about the health care options for Walmart employees.

My bet is they're angling to get in on the health care racket while everything's up in the air, just like they angled to get in on banking a few years ago.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

All companies are struggling to provide good health care for their workers. I recall the tears with Sprint's folks trying to get us something similar to they have always had, and after a year's worth of blood sweat and tears, that same division got all the ire when our copays went up a few bucks, and options went down.

One of the few industries that is still thriving is healthcare. Mostly because we all know to eat, sleep, and bathe regularly, but not many of us exercise regularly, which is just as important.

::shrug:: Walmart is a Christian organization... less so now than a number of years ago, but they do try to do the right thing much of the time. Granted, it is not a charity, it is a retail business... but I have seen them going above and beyond for the right reasons.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Like I said, it sort of went ping in my brain, is all. Health care reform is a very interesting thing, and it's dizzying to watch the alignments and recalibrations of power in the game, aside from the general issue.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I expect because they think it will be cheaper for them than providing it themselves.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see Costco take a stab at providing medical coverage... like Walmart they will trim out all the fat, but Costco will still give us a base line of quality that I can appreciate, while Walmart will give us the lowest level of quality that we can tolerate.

Granted, the current system doesn't really allow for that, government regulation is what keeps healthcare 'broken', (as well as keeping it running).

I'll be really impressed if we see a 'Great Value' HMO available at Walmart... that would be cool.

[tafl-hols.livejournal.com]

WalMart goes out of its way to keep as many employees as possible from qualifying for health care benefits (an ex-wife worked for WalMart for a while, so I got to see it up close and personal) as part of its evil ways of doing business; exploiting workers to keep costs down. As health care costs cause lots of problems for business--see the auto companies for that on the largest scale--it makes sense for any company that wants to drop that cost to push for health care reform. A single payer plan makes the most sense for business, in addition to being best for the general citizenry, which makes it kind of surprising that it's not being seriously considered at this point.

[teross50.livejournal.com]

In fact I am surprised and curious as well. My son worked for Wal-Mart his senior year of college. they did offer great health care. It was a real trick to get it though. Most employees were hired at less than 40hrs. So they did not qualify. Or they could not afford the deduction even if they did. Mostt worked morethan 40 hours but since their status was set it did not matter. They (Wal-Mart) have come out against raising the minumum wage and earlier against unionization and public health care. I am surprised to see this turn around. I am also very suspicous.

[rio-luna.livejournal.com]

don't believe it. there is lots of evidence of WM screwing their employees on benefits and wages, and doing everythign possible to keep employees for qualifiying for health insurance (like making sure their full time peeps only put in 38 hours per week, and being ineligble, crap like that)