The Washington Examiner reports, Jan. 7, 2014, that Walmart’s health plans for its employees are more affordable and provide significantly better access to high-quality medical care than Obamacare.
That’s what independent insurance agents affiliated with the National Association of Health Underwriters and health policy experts discovered, when they compared Walmart’s to Obamacare’s, at the request of the Examiner.
Walmart offers its employees two standard plans, both managed by Blue Cross Blue Shield:
- Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) that costs more out of employees’ pockets but has lower deductibles. For a monthly premium of only $40 (individual) or $160 (family), the enrollee gets full-service coverage through a Blue Cross Blue Shield preferred provider organization.
- Health Savings Account plan that includes high deductibles but allows tax-free dollars to be used for coverage.
Other advantages of the Walmart plans include:
1. Unlike Obamacare, there are no income eligibility requirements for the Walmart plans.
2. Age and gender do not alter premium rates.
3. 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. In contrast, we all know of the politicians (White House, Congress, Supreme Court) and groups (favored unions) who are exempt from Obamacare.
4. Walmart’s monthly premiums are 5 to 9 times lower than those of unsubsidized Obamacare enrollees. For example:
- For an unsubsidized nonsmoking couple, age 60, the Walmart monthly premium is $134 vs. Obamacare’s $1,365.
- For a unsubsidized smoker, age 30, the Walmart monthly premium is $70 vs. Obamacare’s $428 per month.
- For an unsubsidized family of four, the Walmart monthly premiium is about $160 vs. Obamacare’s $962.
5. Walmart employees also has access to America’s most prestigious medical facilities, including the Mayo Clinic, Pennsylvania’s Geisinger Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic, where Walmart employees and their dependents can get free heart or spinal surgery, and free knee and hip replacements at four hospitals nationwide. In contrast, many top-rated Walmart hospitals — such as the Mayo and Cleveland clinics — are left out of most Obamacare exchange plans.
6. Walmart employees have greater access to doctors and hospitals:
- Robert Slayton, a practicing Chicago independent insurance agent for 11 years and the former president of the Illinois State Association of Health Underwriters, says there is a dramatic gap between doctor availability in Chicago under the Obamacare and Walmart plans: Walmart employees have access to 54 hospitals and 24,904 doctors in Chicago vs. Obamacare’s 28 hospitals and 9,837 doctors.
- Former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey, a Republican who is now a health care advocate, said Obamacare’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 Obamacare 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 [Obamacare] exchange plans.”
7. Walmart also offers a free preventive health plan that mirrors the Obamacare plan. Its 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. Their children can 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.
8. Cheaper drugs: 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.
9. Walmart also gives 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 enrollment year in an account that can only be used for health care expenses.
10. Lower deductibles: 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. But Obamacare deductibles are higher — of up to $6,300 for individuals, and up to $12,000 for a family plan before benefits kick in.
The question, of course, is:
If Walmart can do it, why can’t Obamacare?
Neither Obamacare advocate Families USA nor the United Food and Commercial Workers, which backs anti-Walmart campaigns, responded to Examiner requests for comment.
H/t NewsMax
~Eowyn
