At Walmart, latest sign that employer-based health coverage is failing

When Wal-Mart, the country’s largest private employer, announced the other day that it’s cutting back on health coverage for workers, it wasn’t just the latest sign that our healthcare system is out of reach for a growing number of people.

It was also the clearest indication to date that our employer-based health insurance system has let us down, saddling millions of families with rising healthcare costs and leaving millions more out in the cold.

“The system is failing us,” said Alain Enthoven, a professor emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Business who served as a consultant to the Carter administration on healthcare issues. “It hasn’t worked out as intended.”
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-- David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times

Photo: A shopper outside a Wal-Mart store in Rosemead. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times