Posted on 12/10/2012 3:03:18 AM PST by lowbridge
After making a big deal of publicly supporting the Affordable Care Act, Walmart—the nation’s largest private sector employer—is joining the ranks of companies seeking to avoid their obligation to provide employees with health insurance as required by Obamacare.
It was not all that many years ago that Walmart announced, in response to harsh criticism over the low pay provided to Walmart ‘associates’, that the company would provide a healthcare benefit to its part-time, low earning employees. The uncharacteristically generous nod to worker needs was short lived as the company partially pulled back on the commitment in 2011, citing premium rate increases that Walmart deemed beyond their capacity to pay.
Now, Huffington Post is reporting that the party is over for many more existing Walmart employees, along with all employees hired after February 1, 2012 that the company can classify as “part-time.”
According to the 2013 Walmart “Associate’s Benefit Book”—the manual for low-level Walmart employees—part-time workers who got their jobs during or after 2011 will now be subject to an “Annual Benefits Eligibility Check” each August.
Employees hired after Feb. 1, 2012, who fail to average the magic 30-hours per week requiring a company to provide a healthcare benefit, will lose their healthcare benefits on the following January. Part-time workers hired after Jan. 15, 2011, but before Feb. 1, 2012, will be able to hang onto their Walmart health care benefit if they work at least 24 hours a week.
Anyone hired before 2011 will not be cut off from the company provided health insurance.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
We’ll get single payer nationalized healthcare when Corporate America demands it. Walmart’s move is just the first step in that direction.
You forget that lower income people (defined in the law as anyone making less than $88,000,i think) will receive subsidies through the exchanges. For a waitress, I’m sure that subsidy will be more than the cost of her insurance plan.
She won’t necessarily look at this as a bad thing. She won’t be beholden to any one employer anymore for her health coverage, and she may end up with higher take home pay, since the evil rich will be paying the bills. Win-win (for her).
Also, by paying your own fare, you’re going to seek ways to minimize your costs, leading to lower costs for all.
“Many Walmart employees qualify for and get FOOD STAMPS.
In other words, the government is subsidizing Walmart.”
Not this BS again. Walmart pays a legal wage and are under no obligation ot pay more than minimum wage to any employee. If the workers dont like it they can find another job.
You have hit on the exact issue with O’care I have been talking about for quite sometime since the SCOTUS debacle.
Because Robert’s deemed this a “TAX” once the first corp. or individual pays this “TAX” then O’care can be challenged in court.
Legally “TAXES” can only be levied through the House Of Representatives and declared a tax, which can then be added to the tax code. O’care was written as an “Individual Mandate”
not a tax!
Exactly! What happens next.. Well, the tax revenue into the IRS will drop significantly! How is the subsidy for all those new “insured” going to be subsidized through the “Healthcare Exchanges”? This is a system that will fail! If folks think the U.S. is bankrupt now... wait till 2015!
Excellent tagline, so why did you help reelect Obama?
Obama’s Communist Method: ‘Free’ Communal Control of the Medical Profession for everyone.
I didn’t like the Roberts ruling either.
I just can’t help wondering if perhaps he saw something that we didn’t.
History will decide if he was right or wrong. Either way its gonna be a bumpy ride.
(In fact, the Lefty morons should celebrate this, instead of lament it. Their beloved "poor" are hurt worse by price increases than they are hurt by tax increases, since they pay far less of the taxes than those eeeeevil rich do!)
(Hint to the Obama folk: WE are the taxpayers... and WE are the consumers. Either way, the costs of Obamacare are passed on to us all.)
You took the words right out of my mouth. Screw 'em.
No surprise. This was predicted before Obamacare passed. Look for many other employers to follow.
Even if companies like Walmart paid the insurance, the employees would have to pay in as well. On little more than minimum wage, where would the employee get his/her share? These jobs don’t pay enough to pay for health care and still afford food and shelter. This whole health care bill was to turn health care into a government take over. AND it’s working.
Part of an orchestrated strategy.
The Leftist-Union takedown of Walmart is underway.
Way to leftist to read past the first three sentences out of fear of getting kooties from it. Other than managers, Walmart doesn’t have full time employees so there is not “obligation” to give any benefits. That is the same with many companies these days. No company looking at it’s bottom line and to it’s stockholders wants to kow down to husseincare.
Anyone working in a low end retail or restaurant job can probably qualify for food stamps.
Seniors on fixed incomes? Food stamps.
COLLEGE students? Food stamps.
Low ranking enlisted people in the military? Food stamps.
Children of illegal immigrants? FOOD STAMPS. They can even get info about applying while they are still in Mexico....
an OPEC country.
So your point is????
Who ISN'T SUBSIDIZED by the OBAMA government???
WalMart alone can and should fix this by paying unskilled people more than their average worker pay of $12 an hour? ($9 an hour to start, plus benefits, 30% above minimum wage for minimally productive unskilled workers)
Guess what happens if Walmart pays more and raises prices? The people who shop there with FOOD STAMPS get to pay higher prices. How's that gonna work for them?
At least people with jobs of any kind use food stamps as a supplement, not the entire food budget
The fine was set at a “Low introductory rate” in order to get this bloated dead whale in the harbor and onto the beach. They will raise it until the proles bleed.
You're kidding, right?
Touche.
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