President Barack Obama, who once called Walmart an emblem of corporate greed--in part due to stingy health insurance benefits for its workers--has mended ties with the company.
When the Affordable Care Act was new, waves of Walmart employees enrolled in its health plans--and the resulting expenses fueled the retailer's decision to pare down its benefit offerings.
The company even inspired so-called “Walmart bills.”
Now, the retailer is one of Obama’s “most reliable corporate allies, a go-to partner that’s backed the White House on more than a dozen business initiatives, particularly Obamacare and climate change,” Bloomberg reports.
“It only makes sense for the president to be willing to strike a partnership with the nation’s largest retailer,” Dwight Hill, a Plano, Texas-based partner with retail consultancy McMillan Doolittle, told the news outlet.
“And Walmart has made more strides of late to try to be more transparent about worker pay and benefits. They have certainly seen the light.”