Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Wal*Mart Health Plans Better Than Obama*Care

by JASmius

Sometimes composing headlines is even more fun than the post that follows:

Wal*Mart is offering better and cheaper healthcare insurance coverage for its more than one million employees than plans competing under Obamacare, the Washington Examiner reports.

A comparison by the newspaper found that Walmart's plans are more affordable and provide better access to doctors and hospitals than the plans offered under the [Una]ffordable Care[-Less] Act.

Okay, that lede was a hoot, too.

Wal*Mart has two plans from Blue Cross Blue Shield — one called the Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) and another it calls HRA High, which cost employees more but have lower deductibles. Individuals can receive coverage for as little as $40 a month while a family plan costs about $160 a month.

The Wal*Mart plans, which are offered to 1.1 million enrolled employees, differ from ObamaCare in that age and gender do not affect premium rates and there are no income eligibility requirements.

IOW, Wal*Mart treats their employees equally instead of demographing them to death.

A Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) analysis found that unsubsidized Obamacare enrollees will face monthly premiums five to nine times higher than Wal*Mart premiums.

According to the JAMA report, the monthly unsubsidized ObamaCare premium for married 60-year-old non-smokers can cost $1,365 compared to Walmart's premium of just $134 for the same couple. The report also said an unsubsidized premium under Obamacare for a 30-year-old single smoker would cost $428 a month, compared to $70 monthly for Walmart employees.

Gouging, anyone?  For some reason, the phrase "butt[BLEEP]ed by a brontosaurus" comes to mind.  No wonder millions of Americans have suddenly started suffering from acute lower back pain.

This will do for a punch-line:

The Times said researchers also found that Wal*Mart staff can use eight of the nation's leading hospitals for heart and back surgery, including the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, which the department store chain calls "Centers of Excellence."

Wal*Mart employees can also get free hip and knee replacements at four other hospitals nationwide. But none of these hospitals are included in most of the plans obtained through ObamaCare's exchanges.

If anybody thought that the Left hated Wal*Mart before, they ain't seen nothing yet.  Hell, the IRS will probably move the company ahead of even Tea Party groups in the abuse audit line.

In the meantime, I'll have to fire off a resume or six, while there's still time.

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