WASHINGTON -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., under growing pressure in many states to improve health care benefits, said yesterday that it will expand coverage for its employees and build more than 50 in-store health clinics.
At the same time, the nation's No. 1 private employer said in a news release that government and business must "work together to solve this challenge" of rising health care costs.
The company said that on Sunday, at the annual winter meeting here of the National Governors Association, chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. will call on state lawmakers to work with companies.
"The soaring cost of health care in America cannot be sustained over the long term by any business that offers health benefits to its employees," Scott said in the release. "We have to do it together."
During its most recent enrollment period, the company said, it signed up more than 70,000 new employees for Wal-Mart's health insurance. Most had been uninsured.
The world's biggest retailer, which has 1.3 million workers, promised to further extend health coverage by:
Making far more workers eligible for the "Value Plan," its lowest-cost health plan. The plan, which in some locations costs as little as $11 a month for individuals and 30 cents more per day for children, will be made available to at least half of all workers, the company said.
Reducing the waiting period for part-timers to qualify for coverage and allow their children to be covered.
Opening more than 50 low-cost health clinics in its stores this year. Nine such clinics, which are open to employees and non-employees, were opened in Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Indiana last year.
Last month, Maryland became the first state to require large private employers to pay a fixed amount for employee health care benefits. The new law requires companies with more than 10,000 workers to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health care. Wal-Mart, with nearly 17,000 workers in Maryland, is the only company affected by the law.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association, representing Wal-Mart and other major retailers, is challenging the Maryland law in federal court.
But even as that suit moves forward, at least a dozen other states are considering similar measures, designed to force Wal-Mart to spend more on health care or reimburse state-run medical programs.
Critics remained skeptical about Wal-Mart's announcement, which contained few details about the new policies.
Andrew Grossman, executive director of Wal-Mart Watch, a union-supported group that pushes for reforms in Wal-Mart's policies, issued a statement questioning whether workers would get much help.
"Wal-Mart's new so-called `Value Plan' remains a raw deal for its employees who can't afford the high deductibles and strict eligibility requirements," Grossman said. Workers should be skeptical because Wal-Mart has a "multitude of hidden charges buried in their plans," he said.
Last year, the company opened the first of its health clinics, which are run by an outside company and staffed by a nurse practitioner. The clinics allow uninsured patients to get medical services for $45 to $65.
The company said three Wal-Mart health clinics in northwest Arkansas have treated more than 4,300 patients, most of whom were women age 25 to 49 and half of whom were uninsured.
