Walmart and ObamaCare
ObamaCare’s impact on Walmart seem to have brought a new business opportunity, and a sad day for employees. Walmart cut back benefits for part-time workers in an effort to cut healthcare costs before the looming 2015 mandate to insure full-time workers.
The end result of Walmarts reaction to ObamaCare for the employees won’t be too bad, as employees can now get free or low cost health insurance through Medicaid or marketplace subsidies thanks to the ACA (paid for by taxpayers). However folks in states that did not expand Medicaid may find that they lose their benefits, yet fall in the dreaded Medicaid-gap (the income level that results in not making enough for marketplace subsidies and not qualifying for Medicaid).
On another healthcare note Walmart is also opening health insurance help centers in 2,700 stores to help people sign up for Medicare and health insurance marketplaces.
At least the 5% of the part-time workforce that are losing their coverage will have a short walk over to the help center to replace their coverage.
This should go over well at the upcoming meeting with shareholders and investors, but it may not sit as well with others. How do we balance the morality and humanity of having a safety-net, with the idea that large employers like Walmart use safety-net subsidies to push their responsibilities onto we the people?
Author: Thomas DeMichele
Thomas DeMichele is the head writer and founder of ObamaCareFacts.com, FactsOnMedicare.com, and other websites. He has been in the health insurance and healthcare information field since 2012. ObamaCareFacts.com is a...
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Lilly D
She clearly stated she was referring to 24 years ago, meaning that $5.00 an hour was her starting wage back then.
Tangie Burnett
I have been working for the retail giant for over 24 years the first year,
I was employed
I couldn’t wait to cover my family being a single mother with three kids and
Only making $5.00 an hour
Insurance was my priority
Health insurance has continued to go up while in my situation wages has continued to go down,
One things that has contributed to this was the fact that employees like myself that has work for the retail giant has been caps for over 9 years which has made it very hard to keep up with health insurance and the economy
ObamaCareFacts.comThe Author
$5.00 an hour? $15.00 as a blanket minimum across the US may be pushing it, but $5.00 working for a retail giant sounds more like robbery of hard working Americans. This is why at the very least Medicaid expansion is so important. Then at least the corporations tax dollars (in theory) go to provide the basics of living that their wages can’t.
SML
Where do you live that Walmart only pays you $5.00/Hr? I find it hard to believe, not impossible just hard to believe. What third-world country do you live in? Sorry I meant state?
me
thats her minimum wage after taxes obviously..
Russell Brady
I believe Walmart already bleeds the American taxpayer with excessively low wages forcing their labor force to use food stamps and other safety net options they wouldn’t need to use. It must be nice to see large profits at the expense of the rest of us.