Wal-Mart to Widen Health Benefits, Cut Drug Co-Pay

CHICAGO — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., under pressure from critics who say that the world’s biggest retailer pays poor wages and benefits, said Monday that it planned to reduce employee co-payments for certain prescription drugs to $3 from $10.

Wal-Mart also said that its previously announced plan to halve the waiting period to one year for part-time employees to qualify for healthcare would take effect May 13.

The company will also offer healthcare coverage for children of eligible full- and part-time employees as of May 13. That has been a particularly sensitive subject for Wal-Mart after a leaked internal memo showed that about 46% of Wal-Mart employees’ children were uninsured.

Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. private sector employer with more than 1.3 million workers, is facing criticism from opponents who say that it pays poverty-level wages and provides such limited healthcare benefits that some of its employees turn to government-funded Medicaid programs.

The retailer has taken steps to improve its benefits, including adding a lower-priced healthcare plan that it intends to offer to nearly half its employees by the end of 2006.

Wal-Mart said that starting in January 2007, employees can get generic prescriptions for common conditions such as diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol for a $3 co-pay instead of $10. It plans to offer discounts of about 20% on prescription drugs not covered on the health plan.