Today’s Final Word on Health Care

We’ve received many, many emails and submissions from Wal-Mart employees over the past few years. And even more have gone to our Wal-Mart Speak Out site to share their stories. It’s much more infrequent that we come across an industry professional that deals with Wal-Mart employees on a regular basis, but in today’s Baltimore Sun that’s exactly what we found. It’s a letter from a doctor, and we’ll let it stand on its own merits.

Wal-Mart is an image conscious opportunist. I have several Wal-Mart employees as my patients. I can in all honesty declare that Wal-Mart, a wealthy corporation, for years got away with providing its employees no health care coverage at all or the type of coverage from which doctors could barely eke out payments.

Out of pocket expenses for patients are outrageous with this coverage. Hand me a Wal-Mart health insurance card, and I will let out a spontaneous sigh of exasperation because I know from experience what lies ahead is a runaround for meager compensation after I have delivered all the services.

You say Wal-Mart has obtained religion and is behind Obama’s health plan? Will there be a richer bounty on my plate now for tending to my overworked and underpaid Wal-Mart flock tenderly? Somehow I doubt my sighs of exasperation will cease with this new miracle under way in the health care sector.

A fed up doc

Wal-Mart stingy with health benefits [Baltimore Sun]

Posted by Corey Himrod on Thursday, July 02, 2009

Click Here for a Printer-Friendly Version