“There are no free lunches” clichéd maybe but true. Unless employees contribute their bit they will be without health policies.
Wal-Mart has no intention of cutting health benefits for its employees. The retail giant has announced that the company would expand health insurance benefits by including vision care to eligible employees and their dependents. People would find this a major boon as most of the employees depend on the health cover the company provides. There has been a lot of speculation about large businesses cutting benefits to manage the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, though Wal-Mart like other large concerns has no intention of to cut health benefits in the near future. The small employers are trying to limit benefits they can offer their workers.
Today more than 1.3 million employees receive health benefits from the company which is more than 50% of its work force and though the company is not aware of the number of employees who will avail the health benefits they will definitely be dearer to the employee in order to sustain the costs.
Wal-Mart feels providing health insurance cover to a wide range of people is expensive if the company has to bear all the expenses so in order to provide health benefits and offset overall costs the company has decided than the employees’ contribution should be 10%. Wal-Mart also plans to make some changes to the health plans they would offer, though these would be known only after the 1st of October.
References:
Hannah Punitha (IRDA Licence Number: 2710062)
Stephen Vagus September 2013
Advertisement