Walmart Drops Health Benefits For Most Part-Time Workers
NEW YORK -- Walmart Stores (WMT) plans to eliminate health insurance coverage for most of its part-time U.S. employees in a move aimed at controlling rising health care costs of the nation's largest private employer.
Starting Jan. 1, Walmart told The Associated Press that it will no longer offer health insurance to employees who work less than an average of 30 hours a week. The move, which would affect 30,000 employees, follows similar decisions by Target (TGT), Home Depot (HD) and others to eliminate health insurance benefits for part-time employees.
"We had to make some tough decisions," Sally Wellborn, Walmart's senior vice president of benefits, told The Associated Press.
We are trying to balance the needs of [workers] as well as the costs of [workers] as well as the cost to Walmart.Wellborn says the company will use a third-party organization to help part-time workers find insurance alternatives: "We are trying to balance the needs of [workers] as well as the costs of [workers] as well as the cost to Walmart."
The announcement comes after Walmart said far more U.S. employees and their families are enrolling in its health care plans than it had expected following rollout of the Affordable Care Act. Walmart, which employs about 1.4 million full- and part-time U.S. workers, says about 1.2 million Walmart workers and family members combined now participate in its health care plan.
By Anne D'Innocenzio, The Associated Press, Oct. 7, 2014, Dailyfinance.com
NEW YORK -- Walmart Stores (WMT) plans to eliminate health insurance coverage for most of its part-time U.S. employees in a move aimed at controlling rising health care costs of the nation's largest private employer.
Starting Jan. 1, Walmart told The Associated Press that it will no longer offer health insurance to employees who work less than an average of 30 hours a week. The move, which would affect 30,000 employees, follows similar decisions by Target (TGT), Home Depot (HD) and others to eliminate health insurance benefits for part-time employees.
"We had to make some tough decisions," Sally Wellborn, Walmart's senior vice president of benefits, told The Associated Press.
We are trying to balance the needs of [workers] as well as the costs of [workers] as well as the cost to Walmart.Wellborn says the company will use a third-party organization to help part-time workers find insurance alternatives: "We are trying to balance the needs of [workers] as well as the costs of [workers] as well as the cost to Walmart."
The announcement comes after Walmart said far more U.S. employees and their families are enrolling in its health care plans than it had expected following rollout of the Affordable Care Act. Walmart, which employs about 1.4 million full- and part-time U.S. workers, says about 1.2 million Walmart workers and family members combined now participate in its health care plan.
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