Wal-Mart workers use
N.J. insurance most
By AP from the Home
News Tribune Online, March 15, 2006
TRENTON, NJ — Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. has more workers and dependents using state-funded health coverage than any
other employer in New Jersey, although it is the eighth-largest private employer
in the state, according to a study compiled by a labor federation and released
yesterday.
The report comes amid a union campaign for legislation in New Jersey and other
states that would require the world's largest retailer to pay a fixed amount for
employee health coverage.
Wal-Mart, which has resisted unionization, said it has made its coverage more
accessible and that rising health-care costs need to be addressed nationally.
The study, released by the AFL-CIO, found that Wal-Mart employees and dependents
are the biggest group getting state-funded coverage in 19 of the 23 states where
figures were available.
In New Jersey, where Wal-Mart has about 12,500 workers, a total of 589 employees
and dependents used NJ FamilyCare, the study said, crediting an August report by
New Jersey Policy Perspective, a nonprofit liberal think tank, for the number.
Second was another large retailer, Home Depot, at 335.
"This abuse of poverty health-care programs means Wal-Mart is directly
contributing to the nation's Medicaid crisis," the AFL-CIO said.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Kelly Hobbs said the Arkansas-based company now insures
more than 1 million of its workers and family members, including more than
650,000 of its 1.3 million employees.
(Emphasis Added)
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