Buried in
a USA Today story on working people on Medicaid is perhaps the sickest argument I've ever seen come from Wal-Mart:
Many workers choose Medicaid over insurance offered by their employers because it is less expensive. Wal-Mart workers pay $273 a month for the company's family medical coverage and get fewer benefits than Medicaid.
(Medicaid is free or nearly free for recipients. Specific out-of-pocket costs and the range of services covered vary by state.)
Wal-Mart does not encourage its employees to use Medicaid, spokesman Dan Fogleman says. "But our employees are cost-conscious, and they do what's best for their families," he says.
I think I could go on for a year about this one. I'll try to restrain myself.
This is not the first time they've made this argument. Here's CEO Lee Scott from back in April:
"There are government assistance programs out there that are so lucrative it's hard to be competitive, and it's expensive to be competitive."
Wal-Mart assumes that all medical coverage is the same. It isn't. Heck, just finding a Medicaid provider and getting time off to wait in the inevitable huge lines to see them should automatically make any smart consumer only choose Medicaid as a last resort. Wal-Mart is essentially arguing that all Wal-Mart employees are comparison shopping on price just like they were buying a DVD player at their store. I have news for you folks: If your Wal-Mart DVD player breaks a week after you get it home, you're out $37. If YOU break, the consequences are a lot more severe.
The idea that Medicaid is a conscious choice is also sick, because, as Wal-Mart Watch explains:
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 [to become eligible] for benefits: six months for full-time employees and two years for part-time employees.
Combine that with the fact that Wal-Mart has a turnover rate of 45% and you've got a rather misleading argument. Keeping benefits inaffordable and inaccessible is the best way to keep turnover high. A constantly changing workforce won't organize or make demands upon their employer.
If you can blame government for your own civicly-irresponsible policy choices, so much the better.
It just makes me sick [good thing I don't work at Wal-Mart.]
JR