Wal-Mart is jumping on the CDHP bandwagon. The nation's largest employer announced that it will offer only the high-deductible policies to new employees, but that current employees who chose to renew their existing plans won't have to switch. While the plans have monthly premiums as low as $11, some deductibles will run as high as $6,000 a year. Wal-Mart says that in the long run, the new health plans will save employees money. Critics, on the other hand, blast the company for shifting costs to employees. "Wal-Mart is cruelly hurting its employees, cutting health-care options and shifting costs on to the American taxpayer," Paul Blank, campaign director for Wake-Up Wal-Mart, noted in the Washington Post. The program will apply to employees hired after January 1st, 2007.
For more on Wal-Mart's move:
- read the report [1] from the Washington Post
Related Article
Wal-Mart cuts generic drug prices to $4. Report [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601469.html
[2] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/wal-mart-cuts-generic-drug-prices/2006-09-22