Immediate Release
Contact: Chris Kofinis (202) 486-6422

WAL-MART CYNICALLY IGNORES ITS OWN GROWING HEALTH CARE CRISIS

WAL-MART REFUSES TO ADDRESS WHY 53 PERCENT OF ITS WORKERS & FAMILIES HAVE
NO COMPANY HEALTH CARE

Washington, D. C. - Today, in an ironic twist, Lee Scott, the CEO of Wal-Mart, will be the keynote speaker at the Fourth Annual World Health Care Congress discussing the nation’s health care crisis, while ignoring the growing role Wal-Mart plays in feeding our nation’s health care crisis. In 2006, the Wal-Mart Health Care crisis left over 775,000 Wal-Mart workers and their families without company health care. In fact, contrary to Wal-Mart’s empty health care pronouncements, the facts about the Wal-Mart health care crisis are not only disturbing, but expose the truth that, unfortunately, Wal-Mart does not care about the health and welfare of its workers and their families.

Here are some of the facts:

• No other company in America leaves more workers without company health care than Wal-Mart - over 775,000 Wal-Mart employees and their families had no company health care in 2006.
• Compared to Costco, which provides health care to 82% of its workers, Wal-Mart provides company health care to only 47%.
• 46% of Wal-Mart workers’ children are either uninsured or on public health care assistance.
• Providing public health care to uninsured Wal-Mart workers and their families costs American taxpayers over $1.2 billion a year.
• Estimates reveal that the Wal-Mart health care crisis will cost taxpayers $9.1 billion over the next 5 years.
• In 18 out of 19 states where data is publicly available, Wal-Mart leads all employers with the greatest number of employees on taxpayer-funded public health care.
• Wal-Mart recently eliminated low-deductible health care plans for new hires, and now offers new employees only catastrophic “high deductible” health care (aka, the “Value Plan”) and President Bush’s health care savings accounts (HSAs).

In addition, here are the facts about Wal-Mart and CEO Lee Scott’s empty support for Universal Health Care:

• CEO Lee Scott has stated publicly that Wal-Mart will continue to support candidates who oppose universal health care.
• CEO Lee Scott has stated publicly that Wal-Mart will not take any steps to improve health coverage for uninsured Wal-Mart workers.

The following statement is attributable to Chris Kofinis, communications director for WakeUpWalMart.com, and addresses today’s speech by Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott at the World Health Care forum.

“Wal-Mart and CEO Lee Scott should be ashamed to continue playing PR games with one of the most important issues in America - health care. No other company, not one, has done more to feed our nation’s health care crisis than Wal-Mart. Even with $11.3 billion in profits, Wal-Mart chooses to look the other way as it cruelly and needlessly leaves over 775,000 Wal-Mart workers and their families without company health care.

Clearly, the time has come for Wal-Mart to stop its PR stunts, to end its empty rhetoric, and lead by example - provide universal health care to the hundreds of thousands of its own employees who have no company health care now!

In the end, all Americans must ask themselves a simple question - if Wal-Mart is so concerned about health care, then why not simply “do the right thing” and provide affordable health care to all of its uninsured workers who have to deal with the cruel reality that Wal-Mart’s health care crisis is real and growing. The answer, unfortunately, is Wal-Mart seems much more concerned with cynically addressing its faltering public image than providing affordable health care to its uninsured workers.”