Beall, Miller and Bailey Don't Like Wal-Mart

Props out to State 29 for bringing this to attention. If you were watching local news in the past few days, you probably saw a story about the Wake-Up Wall-Mart people holding a press conference at the state capital with State Senator Bolckom and State Sen. Hatch. They were damning Wal-Mart for wasting state tax dollars because they don't provide enough health care for their employees.

A press release/letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott is out highlighting these complaints. Signatories to this letter were several members of our state legislature, include Sen. Daryl Beall, Sen. Rich Olive, Rep. McKinley Bailey, and Rep. Helen Miller.

They are worried about spending, but are these legislators just as outraged about the 10% increase in state spending this year and the projected 10% increase for next year as well? Maybe we shouldn't be too hard though. Teacher pay was only increased by 4% this year under a Democrat controlled statehouse, when last year, under Republican control, Sen. Beall felt our teachers deserved 6%.

Here some of the facts that Wal-Mart gives about their health care coverage (more can be found here):

• In FY 2006, Wal-Mart is projected to spend roughly $4.7 billion on associate benefits including, for example, contributions to health and dental plans, 401(K)/profit-sharing plans and associate discount cards. For perspective, Wal-Mart’s net income for FY 2005 was $10.3 billion.
• Benefits spending at Wal-Mart has grown 15% per year over the last three years, increasing from 1.5% to 1.9% of sales between FY 2002 and FY 2005.
• Health care spending alone has grown 19% per year during the same period.
  
• We are providing access to private insurance: Wal-Mart provides health insurance to full- and part-time associates after a waiting period considered standard in the retail industry. For many associates, a job at Wal-Mart means new access to health coverage. Surveys of hourly associates showed that 30% had no health coverage before coming to work for Wal-Mart. After joining Wal-Mart, the percentage of associates who are uninsured drops. By our estimates, we have helped over 160,000 associates get off the rolls of the uninsured.
• We are taking people off public assistance programs: According to a survey by The Segmentation Company, 7% of associates join Wal-Mart on Medicaid. Only 3% of associates remain on Medicaid after working for Wal-Mart for two years.
• The majority of Wal-Mart’s hourly associates are full-time. (Fulltime at Wal-Mart is 34+ hours per week.) That’s well above the 20% to 40% typically found in the retail industry.
• Many associates – such as students looking for work experience, seniors supplementing their retirement income and individuals working a second job – join Wal-Mart with existing health care benefits.
• During our recent open enrollment, about 70,000 associates who had previously waived coverage signed up for Wal-Mart plans.
  
• Of these associates, 78% of those surveyed said they were previously uninsured.
  
• Over one-third of those associates, previously uninsured and recently electing coverage, selected the Wal-Mart Value Plan.
• Considering factors that include associates who left Wal-Mart, those that elected to drop coverage as well as those who recently became eligible, this growth in enrollment leaves Wal-Mart in January 2006 with over 615,000 associates, (or over 1 million Americans, including spouses and dependants) on Wal-Mart health plans.
• Wal-Mart offers health coverage to both full- and part-time associates -- only 23% of all employers offer coverage to their part-time employees.
• On average in 2005, 73% of all associates were eligible for Wal-Mart plans and 43% of all associates chose to enroll. In January 2006, the number of associates covered by Wal-Mart health care insurance increased to 46%.
• According to a 2005 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the proportion of Wal-Mart associates eligible for company health care benefits (73%) is comparable to other large employers (79%) and significantly higher than the retail industry average (61%).
• According to a survey conducted by The Segmentation Company, 5% of Wal-Mart associates are on Medicaid. This is lower than the retail sector average of 6% and only slightly higher than the national average of 4%.
• 27% of the children of Wal-Mart associates are on Medicaid or S-CHIP programs, a proportion lower than the retail sector average of 36%.
• Historically, Wal-Mart’s contribution to both individual and family health care coverage has been approximately two-thirds of the total cost.
• The total benefits package for a Wal-Mart associate includes, in addition to health care, programs such as company contributions to 401(K)/profit-sharing plans, associate discount cards, paid time off and life insurance. In FY 2006, Wal-Mart is projected to spend roughly $4.7 billion on associate benefits.

And this doesn't even cover how much Wal-Mart has saved Iowans and people in other states.

I'd be interested to see how many of these legislatures have shopped or continue to shop at Wal-Mart. Should we expect to see apologies from any of them for their past behavior? I won't hold my breath.

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