Friday, October 21, 2011

Wal-Mart Cutting Insurance Benefits and Raising Premiums for Employees–New Algorithms With New Parameters for Employees to Either Meet or be Disqualified

For part time employees with under 33 hours a week, spouses will no longer be insured.  Those who work part time under 24 hours a week that are hired from here out, will no longer qualify for any of the company health insurance plans, so I guess imagethose who are presently employed are ok, for now as far as not losing coverage.  Many companies do not offer part timers insurance at all and pretty much hire as many part time employees as they can, and that’s been going on for years. 

Well so much for that clause in the Healthcare reform bill about mandating insurance unless the public option is created.  Not creating a public plan is what really made a big mess out of that provision and the law was made during a bit better economic times so digital laws that can adjust should be a consideration here soon in someone’s books. 

Healthcare Law–Economic Times Outdate Original Provisions With Mandate to Buy Insurance and Lack of Public Options–Judicial Systems And Lawmakers With a “Screw Loose” Upstairs?

See when the Supreme Court gets their hands on the law to rule upon, I was not kidding when I said rent some big data computing space from the DOE as they will need it to gather and sort all the information they need to rule on. 

Supreme Court Likely to Rule on Healthcare Law Early Next Year–This Gives The Justices Time to Rent Some Computing Space from the DOE As They Will Need It

With these new provisions of higher premiums and parameters in some cases, guess what, time for new algorithms in the IT infrastructure to run all of this.  That is what these folks and well in reality most of us are upset about is that the decision making process creates algorithms that “take away”. 

Occupying Wall Street–It’s All About the “Attack of the Killer Algorithms”–The Unfair and Marketing Exploit of Ethics Using Math–This Could be a Subject for Michael Moore to Explore and Document In a Movie

For a $9.50 an hour employee who pays around $53.00 every two weeks the jump will go up to $128.00 every two weeks so do the math and see how long employees on those small wages can afford it.  These are the “cost algorithms” that determine what the parameters will be along with associated premiums, the algorithms we don’t like.  BD   

After trying to mollify its critics in recent years by offering better health care benefits to its employees, Wal-Mart is substantially rolling back coverage for part-time workers and significantly raising premiums for many full-time staff.

Citing rising costs, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, told its employees this week that all future part-time employees who work less than 24 hours a week on average will no longer qualify for any of the company’s health insurance plans.

In addition, any new employees who average 24 hours to 33 hours a week will no longer be able to include a spouse as part of their health care plan, although children can still be covered.

In 2009, Wal-Mart said 52 percent of its employees obtained health coverage through it, but on Thursday it declined to give the percentage.

Documents on Wal-Mart’s health and other benefit offerings were obtained by The New York Times from the Organization United for Respect at Walmart, a union-backed group of Wal-Mart employees that is seeking to pressure the company to improve wages and benefits.

Tammy Yancey, a $9.50-an-hour gas attendant at a Sam’s Club in Pinellas Park , Fla., complained that she would no longer be able to afford health insurance from the company. Ms. Yancey, a smoker, said her premiums would jump to $127.90 every two weeks — or $3,325 a year — up from $53.80 at present, when she earns $12,000 a year from her job.

Last year, the company put $1,000 into accounts for families but it will cut the amount by half for next year to just $500. Companies typically put more money into these accounts as a way of encouraging employees to choose these plans, which cost employers less than traditional policies.

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