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But analysts cautioned that the new insurance plan would prove a better fit for workers who are young and healthy than those who are older and more vulnerable to illness. A 60-year-old Wal-Mart employee, they noted, might visit a doctor three times in a one month and then need to pay $1,000 before the company would share the cost of care. Given that many Wal-Mart employees are paid less than $19,000 a year, the deductible "is pretty significant," said Charles N. Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals.
Tracy Sefl, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Watch, a coalition of community groups that has been highly critical of the retailer, had not seen details of the plan, but said that "a plan that is characterized as a healthy person's plan doesn't fully address the needs of a majority of their work force."
Ms. Sefl said the introduction of health savings accounts, which allow workers to make tax-deductible payments to a health care fund, was largely impractical for the chain's employees. "The majority of their work force will not be well positioned to contribute," she said.
Even as they commended Wal-Mart for offering a more affordable health insurance plan, some industry watchers expressed surprise that the company waited as long as it did to offer a more affordable option. "We have a health care system in this county that assumes people will be covered by their employer," said Mr. Kahn. "If the biggest employer in the country isn't providing some kind of affordable and meaningful coverage, that is a problem."
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