What I find interesting is that many people would give any credibility to WakeupWalMart.com when it is headed by the director of the largest union in the United States. This guy is making lots of money on this anti-Wal-Mart campaign. <br> <br> The fact that 57% of Wal-Mart employees do not get their health insurance from Wal-Mart is not SHOCKING. According to the US World Almanac 60% of all Americans do not get their health insurance from their employees. <br> <br> Going to Wake Up Wal-Mart dot com for factual information about Wal-Mart is like going to North Korea to find out about US foreign policy or a KKK rally to learn about diversity.<br> <br> I understand Wal-Mart has some problems, and has lots of room for improvement. But let us not lose sight of the fact that Wake-Up Wal-Mart dot com was a website generated by Wal-Mart competitors that are making millions off attacking Wal-Mart with distorted information. <br> <br> _DJA<br><br><b><i>Mark Solomon
<msolomon@moscow.com></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <style type="text/css"><!-- blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 } --></style><title>Re: [Vision2020] Wake Up WalMart Update</title> <div><tt>and right on the heels of the report is this.</tt></div> <div><tt>mark.</tt></div> <div><tt>*********</tt></div> <div><tt><font color="#000000">Wal-Mart to Loosen Health Insurance Limits</font></tt><br> <tt><font color="#000000"></font></tt></div> <div><tt><font color="#000000"><br></font></tt></div> <div><tt><font color="#000000">By MICHAEL BARBARO<br> Published: February 23, 2006<br> <br> Wal-Mart Stores, facing a raft of state legislation that would require it to increase spending on employee health insurance, will lift several of its long-standing - and most-criticized - restrictions on eligibility over the next year, the giant re!
tailer
said this morning.<br> <br> The changes, which Wal-Mart's chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., will formally announce before a meeting of the nation's governors on Sunday, underscores how big a public relations threat the health care issue has become for the nation's largest private employer.<br> <br> Wal-Mart insures less than half of its 1.3 million employees in the United States and has come under growing criticism for skimping on benefits and shifting the cost of health care to state governments. In the past two months, the Maryland Legislature passed a law that would force Wal-Mart to improve its benefits and legislatures in a dozen more states, including California, Washington and Rhode Island, are considering similar bills.<br> <br> The new eligibility rules at Wal-Mart are intended to increase the number of employees who can access the company's insurance plan, but it was unclear how significant the impact would be because Wal-Mart released little det!
ailed
information.<br> <br> What is clear is that Wal-Mart would still require workers, whose average pay is less than $20,000 a year, to pay hefty annual deductibles and monthly premiums.<br> <br> Wal-Mart said it would "significantly" reduce the waiting period before a new part-time employee is eligible for insurance, but it declined to specify by how much. Today, part-time workers must wait two years, compared with 180 days for full-time employees.<br> <br> In addition, the company will allow part-time employees to enroll their children in the company's health insurance plan. Until now, Wal-Mart covered only the children of full-time workers.<br> <br> At the same time, Wal-Mart said it would make a new health-care plan introduced in several regions this year, with premiums as low as $11 a month, available to half of its employees by next year.<br> <br> That plan allows for several prescriptions and doctors visits before a $1,000 deductible kicks in. But it is
unlikely to cover a complicated illness or expensive hospital stay during the first year, when there is a $25,000 insurance cap. In addition, out-of-pocket payments range from $300 for prescriptions to $1,000 for hospital stays.<br> <br> Wal-Mart also said it would expand the use of in-store clinics to treat employees. Such clinics, which the company set up in Northwest Arkansas as a test six months ago, are intended for non-emergency medicine, like flu shots.<br> <br> "We are trying to make our plans more relevant, accessible and affordable," said Mona Williams, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.<br> <br> Asked how many workers are expected to enroll in the company's health insurance plan after the changes, she said: "We think these enhancements are a step in the right direction for associates but don't yet know how they affect take rates."<br> <br> It is unclear how much the new plan will cost Wal-Mart, a number that investors will be anxious to learn given Wal-Mar!
t's
no-frills business model, which emphasizes low labor costs. Ms. Williams said the plan was factored into Wal-Mart's profit forecast for 2006, which the company announced earlier this week.<br> <br> The changes represent a significant victory for Wal-Mart critics, particularly organized labor, who contend the retailer has skimped on benefits and shifted health costs to state governments.<br> <br> The groups have tried, with apparent success, to turn Wal-Mart into a symbol of what is wrong with American health care, triggering legislation in numerous states that is directed squarely at Wal-Mart.</font></tt></div> <div><tt><br></tt></div> <div><tt>At 2:14 PM -0800 2/23/06, TIM RIGSBY wrote:</tt></div> <blockquote type="cite" cite=""> <blockquote type="cite" cite=""><tt>From Wakeupwalmart.com</tt></blockquote> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite=""><tt><br>
---------------------------------------------------------------------<span></span>---------------------------------------------------------------------</tt></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite=""><tt><br> You are not going to believe this. Wal-Marts health care spending per employee actually went down, and the number of Wal-Mart workers without company health care has risen to a whopping 775,000 workers or 57% of the company.<br> <br> In response, our campaign is releasing a shocking new report titled, America Pays, Wal-Mart Saves: The Growing Cost of the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis. The report estimates the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis cost American taxpayers nearly $1.4 billion in 2005 with a projected cost over the next five years of $9.1 billion.<br> <br> Please download your copy of the shocking report and take action today:<br> http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/redirect/healthcrisis<br> <br> As you know, we have been working vigorously to enact Fair!
Share
Health Care legislation all across America to stop corporations, like Wal-Mart, from shifting their health care costs onto taxpayers. Although Wal-Mart and its allies are spending untold sums of money and hiring lobbyists in every state to defeat us, the will of the American people cannot be stopped.<br> <br> We are launching a new tool on our website to help you make your voice heard in your local community. You now have the ability to find your local newspaper and submit a letter to the editor by going to WakeUpWalMart.com<br> <br> Please make your voice heard on the Wal-Mart health care crisis by going to:<br> http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/redirect/healthletter<br> <br> Wal-Marts shockingly bad health care numbers prove more than ever how important it is to build public pressure to change this corporation. We need your help now! We have to grow our movement from 182,000 supporters today to 1 million supporters. As our grassroots army becomes larger, we!
will
become an even more powerful force for change.<br> <br> Only you have the power to change Wal-Mart and change America. Make sure to download your copy of the America Pays, Wal-Mart Saves report and ask your friends, family members and co-workers to join our movement to change Wal-Mart and build a better America.<br> <br> Thank you for all that you do,<br> <br> Paul Blank<br> WakeUpWalMart.com<br> <br> <html><div>Revolution is not a word but an application; it is not war but peace; it does not weaken, but strengthens. Revolution does not cause separation; it generates togetherness. <BR>-John Africa, <EM>Strategic Revolution</EM></div></html><br> <br> _________________________________________________________________<br> Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/</tt></blockquote> <div><tt><br></tt></div>
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