The first post in this month’s series can be accessed at:
Today we will focus on one topic and on topic only: how the current health insurance plans offered to Walmart workers are actually substantially better in cost and quality than Obama Care programs. This may come as much as a surprise to you as it did to me because the President, other proponents of Obama Care, the mainstream media, and unions have constantly portrayed Walmart as a bad employer that offered almost useless insurance policies to its workers.
But an in-depth analysis commissioned by the Washington Examiner using actual, real life data and information and subject matters experts crushes that false perception of Walmart’s health insurance polices and benefits for its employees, relative to Obama Care policies.
This analysis and reversal of perception is important for two reasons:
- The President has always claimed that policies Americans obtain from his legislation will reduce the cost of insurance an average of $2,500 a year for the average American family.
- When the lies and deceptions started to tumble out of the Obama Care rollout and it became evident that millions of Americans would have their current and preferred policies terminated as a direct result of Obama Care, the President tried to claim, falsely and deceptively, that those losing their policies would be happier because all of those policies offered inferior health insurance coverage for high costs.
The highlights and findings of the research and analysis includes the following points and conclusions:
1) The article was written by Richard Pollock and was published on January 7, 2014 under the title: “Surprise! Walmart health plan is cheaper, offers more coverage than Obama Care”
2) Walmart has been the target of unions and liberals for years who have harshly criticized the company's health care plans, calling them “notorious for failing to provide health benefits” and "substandard.”
3) However, the Washington Examiner comparison of the two health insurance programs, Walmart’s current plan vs. Obama Care plans, found that Walmart's plan is more affordable AND provides significantly better access to high-quality medical care than Obama Care.
4) The Examiner used independent insurance agents from the National Association of Health Underwriters and other health policy experts to compare the different policies.
5) Walmart corporate relations provided its employee benefit information for the analysis.to the Examiner.
6) Walmart currently offers its employees two health insurance plans, a Health Reimbursement Account and an alternative, "HRA High." This latter option costs employees more every month but has lower deductibles. Blue Cross Blue Shield manages both plans.
7) Walmart even offers is a Health Savings Account (HAS) plan that includes high deductibles but allows tax-free dollars to be used for coverage.
8) For a monthly premium as low as roughly $40, an individual who is a Walmart HRA plan enrollee can obtain full-service coverage through a Blue Cross Blue Shield preferred provider organization. A family can get coverage for about $160 per month.
9) A main difference from Obama Care with these Walmart options is that there are no income eligibility requirements. Age and gender do not alter premium rates. The company plan is the same for all of Walmart's 1.1 million enrolled employees and their dependents, from its cashiers to its CEO. Apparently, big shots at Walmart do not get special treatment like Congressional bigshots granted themselves and their staffs relative to Obama Care.
10) The Examiner article claims that a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) analysis from September, 2013 concluded that unsubsidized Obama Care enrollees will face monthly premiums that are five to nine times higher than Walmart health insurance premiums.
11) The JAMA analysis found that the unsubsidized monthly premium for a nonsmoking couple age 60 can cost $1,365 per month versus the Walmart cost of about $134 for the same couple.
12) The medical journal estimated that a 30-year-old smoker would pay up to $428 per month, in contrast to roughly $70 each month for a Walmart employee.
13) But there are even more differences than just cheaper monthly rates. We have previously reported on how many Obama Care policy purchasers are finding out that their Obama Care policies severely limit the number of doctors and hospitals that are available to them.
For example, almost a million people in New York state will get access to the best cancer hospital around, Sloan-Kettering, since that top notch hospital is not available through Obama Care policies, opening up Obama Care policy holders to inferior medical care.
However, Walmart employees have access to eight of the country's most prestigious medical facilities, including the Mayo Clinic, Pennsylvania's Geisinger Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic.
At these medical centers, "Centers of Excellence" in Walmart language, Walmart employees and their dependents can get FREE heart or spinal surgery. They can also get FREE knee and hip replacements at four hospitals nationwide.
The Examiner article points out that many top-rated Walmart hospitals, including the Mayo and Cleveland clinics, are not available to Obama Care exchange policy holders.
14) Former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey, who is now a health care advocate, is quoted in the article stating how Obama Care's lack of first-class hospitals is a big problem: “It’s not just the number, but who they are. You’ll find under the Obama Care exchanges that the academic hospitals have declined to participate, along with the specialists who practice at those hospitals. The same is true of cancer hospitals. People who are seriously ill need to stay away from these [Obama Care] exchange plans.”
15) Walmart also offers a free preventive health options much like the Obama Care plans. Walmart employees can take advantage of a wide range of free exams and counseling, including screenings for colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, chlamydia, diabetes, depression and special counseling for diet and obesity.
16) Walmart employee kids can also get more than 20 free preventive services, ranging including screenings for genetic disorders, autism and developmental problems to obesity, lead poisoning exposure and tuberculosis. There are also 12 free vaccinations, and free hearing and vision testing.
17) Walmart employees pay as little as $4 for a 30-day supply of generic drugs and only $10 for eye exams through a separate vision plan: “It’s a lot better program than people, I think, might assume without looking, just because Walmart has gotten such a bad reputation by some of the labor groups and other groups for its general activities,” said Gail Wilensky after reviewing the retailer's plan.
Wilensky worked under President George H.W. Bush of the Federal Health Care Financing Administration, the predecessor to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Thus, she has some serious experience in evaluating health care options and policies.
18) David Todd, who an independent insurance agent based in Little Rock, Ark., also compared the health plans for the Examiner article, finding dramatic difference between the current Walmart plan and Obama Care plans and policies: “If I buy a family plan on the exchange, it’s still $1,000 a month. And I can buy this for ... [$160] on Walmart.”
19) Walmart also provides cash to its employees for any health care expense. The annual payments run from $250 to $1,000 and are given at the beginning of the year in an account that can only be used for health care expenses.
20) The article also goes on to examine the deductible part of the health care insurance financials. Walmart individuals face a $2,750 deductible and families need to pay $5,500 under the HRA plan. Individuals pay $1,750 and families pay $3,500 deductibles under the HRA High plan.
While these deductibles are high for an average earning American family, the bad news is that but Obama Care deductibles are higher, ranging up to $6,300, according to an analysis done by David Todd. For illustration, Todd used at 30-year-old woman who could qualify for the government subsidy: “The nonsubsidized premium is $205 a month for this 30-year-old. If they get a subsidy, then the premium is zero. But that person has to come up with $6,300 if something catastrophic happened.”
The Walmart monthly premium for the same 30-year-old woman would be about $40. Her deductible would be $2,750, minus $250 in cash advance, for a total net deductible of $2,500.
Thus, depending on whether or not this fictitious example women’s annual income was high or low would determine which policy was better. Under a high income/no subsidy scenario, the Obama Care program would four times as expensive ($205 vs. $40) and have a deductible more than twice as high ($6,300 vs. $2,500), not a very good option from Obama Care.
Under a low income/subsidy scenario, the Obama Care program would save the ficitious woman $40 a month but would be on the hook for an additional $3,800 in deductible costs ($6,300 vs. $2,500) every year. If she never or rarely gets sick, this might be one case where the Obama Care policy is better than Walmart’s option. However, that is an awfully big risk for a lower income individual, that $6,300 annual deductible.
21) Additionally, Todd claims that some Obama Care exchange family plan deductibles can go as high as $12,000 before benefits kick in. At this level it makes no sense to purchase an Obama Care policy if you need to pay an additional $12,000 a year in annual deductibles before you get any help from your insurance policy.
Who would have thought, Walmart’s current insurance plans kicks the feathers out of most Obama Care options: lower deductibles, lower monthly costs, different options, cash up front to deal with medical costs, free preventive medical tests, health programs such as obesity control, free screenings and vaccines for Walmart employees kids, access to some of the finest medical establishments and clinics in the country, no income requirements or restrictions, no age penalties, executives that are treated just like their employees, etc.
And best of all, no overbearing and incompetent government bureaucracy and political class overseeing the operations. No financial and criminal penalties for not participating in the programs. No pathetic and inefficient website sign up processes to deal with. In hindsight, maybe Obama should have just copied the Walmart policies and used them for his signature legislation, how much worse could it be than the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care?
We will keep an eye out on our news sources to see if anyone rebuts the Examiner analysis. If they do, we will provide the details of that rebuttal. However, given all we have reviewed and discussed over the past four months as it relates to Obama Care, do not hold your breath waiting for a valid, honest rebuttal of this reality,according to the Washington Examiner and the subject matter experts they employed in this analysis, Walmart health insurance policies look to be very good/excellent while Obama Care policies basically …suck.
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