Wal-Mart Says More Workers Insured

Bentonville, Ark. Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Tuesday that the number of its workers without health insurance has fallen over the last year, helped by new plans.

Wal-Mart said that 7.3% of its sales associates had no health insurance, down from 9.6% a year ago.

According to a survey of 802,091 employees, Wal-Mart said 50.2% had a Wal-Mart health plan, while 22.3% were insured by a spouse's plan, 4.3% by Medicare and 4.2% by their parents, school or college.

"With 690,970 associates—and more than 1.1 million people in total—now covered by Wal-Mart’s plans, we can see that the improvements we’ve made are being embraced by our associates and their families," said Linda Dillman, Wal-Mart's executive VP of benefits and risk management.

The company also said it will commission a study to better understand why some workers declined coverage and to identify things that can be done to encourage them to accept it in the future.