Wal-Mart Clarification Statement Admits 8% Increase in Enrollment Was Incorrect

Wal-Mart Clarification Statement Admits 8% Increase in Enrollment Was Incorrect
04:05 PM, January 13th 2007
by Dan Nicolae Alexa





Wal-Mart issued a statement to clarify its misleading health care figures. According to Wal-Mart's latest statement, the company says that it was wrong when it told the New York Times, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and other media publications that it provided company health care to 638,000 Associates in January 2006.

Now, Wal-Mart claims that the actual number of Associates covered under the company health care plan was 615,000 Associates in January 2006.

If Wal-Mart's new number is true, that means Wal-Mart's statement on January 11, 2007, that it increased its health care enrollment by 8%, was false. Under Wal-Mart's new number the company would have only increased its enrollment by 3.7%, if that's even true, less than half of its original claim.

In addition, Wal-Mart continues to mislead the press about the percentage of its employees covered under the company health care plan. In yesterday's news reports, Linda Dillman, Wal-Mart's executive vice president of benefits knowingly misled the public when she told the Associated Press, "Whatever numbers you use, the fact is there is a consistent upward trend."

Unfortunately for Wal-Mart and Ms. Dillman, the 47.4% figure the company cited in its press release yesterday is below the 48% figure that appears both in the internal Wal-Mart health care memo authored by then-Senior Vice President for Benefits Susan Chambers and the 48% reported by Business Week in February 2005, almost two years ago.

"We understand why Wal-Mart would want to try and cover up the fact that it fails to provide company health care to over half of its employees, but this is starting to get ridiculous," said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com. "Apparently, Wal-Mart fails to understand that this is not just some game where you can make up the numbers or pick arbitrary dates during the year to put the best spin on poor results. We hope Wal-Mart will stop playing games with the American public, lawmakers, Wall Street, and the media and will start telling the truth."