Benefits & ERISA Law

Another Wal-Mart Health and Welfare Plan Article in WSJ

By Suzanne Wynn

Prof. Paul M. Secunda over at the Workplace Prof Blog discusses the article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal about Wal-Mart’s health and welfare plan.

In Wal-Mart Insured Ranks Rise, reporter Ann Zimmerman states that:

“The world’s biggest retailer by sales said 690,970 employees, or 50% of its almost 1.4 million staff, signed up for company-furnished health insurance during its open-enrollment period late last year, up from 47% a year earlier.

The remaining employees are covered by either family members’ plans or government-provided health care or forgo insurance altogether. During the past year, the percentage of Wal-Mart employees reporting that they had no coverage from any source fell to 7.3% from 9.6%.”

Over the last year, I’ve written here and here about opinions in cases where the Administrative Committee for Wal-Mart’s plan sought reimbursement for benefits paid from personal injury settlements or awards which participants received from persons found responsible for their injuries. Without much effort, I was able to locate 18 other opinions involving the Administrative Committee for Wal-Mart’s plan seeking reimbursement from participants for benefits paid.

On one hand, the Administrative Committee is operating the plan according to the plan document, which states that any covered person who obtains a tort judgment or settlement must reimburse the Plan out of such funds for 100% of any benefit paid. On the other hand, it is difficult to read Ms. Zimmerman’s article without a certain degree of cynacism due to how aggressive the plan has been in seeking reimbursement.

Technorati Tags: Pension Protection Act, ppa, welfare plan, health plan, Wal-mart, walmart, reimbursement, tort, WSJ, Wall Street Journal, Ann Zimmerman, ERISA

Full post as published by Pension Protection Act Blog on January 23, 2008 (boomark / email).