Reuters - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the biggest private-sector employer in the United States, said on Tuesday it was ending health care coverage for tens of thousands of part-time workers to cut costs in a move that could prompt other companies to follow suit.
The world’s largest retailer said it will stop offering health benefits for employees who work less than 30 hours a week, a change that will affect 2 percent of its U.S. workforce of about 1.3 million, or some 26,000 people.
Coverage will be discontinued from Jan. 1, 2015. On that date the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, will require all companies employing 50 or more people to offer health insurance to those working at least 30 hours a week.
Wal-Mart flagged rising health care costs as a problem in August, when it cut its annual profit forecast. It said more people than expected had enrolled in its plans and said its annual forecast for health care costs had increased by 50 percent.
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