New Obamacare health insurance enrollees may feel a pang of envy when they eye the coverage plans offered by Walmart to its employees.What will be the Left's next bugaboo?
For many years, the giant discount retailer has been the target of unions and liberal activists who have harshly criticized the company's health care plans, calling them “notorious for failing to provide health benefits” and "substandard.”
But a Washington Examiner comparison of the two health insurance programs found that Walmart's plan is more affordable and provides significantly better access to high-quality medical care than Obamacare.
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Income inequality.
ReplyDeleteThey're pumping up the volume on the issue as other issues - gun control, climate change, public education, tank.
This may be the case for Wal-Mart employees who actually HAVE health care ... but they definitely make it very difficult for most employees to get it. Doesn't make Obamacare look any better, though... Wal-mart's premiums would likely o down more if they signed everyone up.
ReplyDeleteCompensation at Walmart, as for most employers, is a function of the value of the employ, not that they have a body temperature above room temperature. Some employees, particularly new employees with little in the way of skills, simply aren't worth enough to enjoy that particular benefit of working for Walmart.
ReplyDeleteI know, I know. Compensation shouldn't be a function of value but of whatever's necessary to satisfy the moral sensibilities of self-appointed arbiters of morality. Unfortunately, the outcome of a society based on that premise is uniformly awful so I'd prefer not to recreate the social experiment that always comes out the same way. Badly.
I know you're being sarcastic in your last paragraph ... and I agree with you, mostly. But, the worker should be paid their MRP ... marginal revenue product, or what they contribute to the firm. Which is exactly what you said. The problem is that firms like Walmart can hire virtually anyone to do their jobs, whereas entry level workers have fewer options. Which means that Walmart can pay BELOW MRP ... and they do. Why wouldn't they? That's why unions are so important... they balance the act, and help ensure that what you SAY should happen DOES.
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