Walmart Public Relation Blitz or Smoke and Mirrors on Healt care Coverage

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The plans with the lowest premiums would still charge annual deductibles as high as $2,000 — typical for American corporate health plans, but perhaps steep for Wal-Mart employees, many of whom work part time and earn less than $20,000 a year. And the company’s plans have other limitations, including waiting periods as long as a year for new employees.

Wal-Mart Watch, a group long critical of the company, said yesterday that “these plans are still unaffordable due to low wages or inaccessible due to waiting periods.”

It is unclear how many of the 125,000 Wal-Mart workers without health coverage would sign up. But industry analysts said the program represented an upgrade for the 636,000 employees who already receive health insurance through Wal-Mart. They said it could force the company’s discount-retailing competitors to offer more generous plans for their own workers.

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When will Americans get what every other industrialized nation in the world already gets?