Does Wal-Mart provide health benefits to their employees?
• Wal-Mart employs 1.2 million people. Only about half of them are covered by the company’s health plan. Some of that is due to the cost–$208 per month, or one-fifth of an average employee’s wages. • Only 56% of Wal-Mart employees have Wal-Mart health insurance. 30% have coverage from outside sources such as another employer, family member, military, or Medicare. 15% have no health insurance at all. In 2005 in its home state of Arkansas, 3,971 employees received public assistance, mostly Medicaid, at a cost to taxpayers of $4 million. • The total federal assistance for which Wal-Mart employees were eligible in 2004 is estimated at $2.5 billion. • Since 1981, Wal-Mart in St. Petersburg, FL, has received $51 million in incentives to create jobs. At the same time, the store has more employees and family members enrolled in Medicare than any other company in the state. • In Washington State, the largest single group user of low income health care services are Wal-Mart employees.
