How Much Do Wal-Mart Employees Pay?
Employees who are covered by a Wal-Mart insurance plan about half of its 1.2 million person work force must pay a third of the monthly cost. That can be nearly $250 a month for a worker earning between $8 and $10 an hour, unaffordable to many of them. Wal-Mart family premiums for employees run as high as $300 per month. The Wal-Mart plan itself shifts much of the health care costs onto employees. In 1999, employees paid 36 percent of the costs. In 2001, the employee burden rose to 42 percent. Nationally, large-firm employees pay on average 16 percent of the premium for health insurance. Unionized grocery workers typically pay nothing. Studies show that much of the decline in employer-based health coverage is due to shifts of premium costs from employers to employees Wal-Mart says: an employee can obtain coverage through Wal-Mart for as little as $15.25 every other week for the employee or $66.25 biweekly for family coverage, regardless of the number of children. That is the lowest prem
