Wal-Mart employee “can’t afford” $15/week for health insurance, but can afford cigarettes

wordpress ^ | November 12, 2012 | Dan from Squirrel Hill

[grundle]

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog

Wal-Mart employee says he “can’t afford” $15 a week for health insurance, but has no trouble paying for cigarettes

CBNC reports:

Wal-Mart Stores’ U.S. employees will pay between 8 percent and 36 percent more in premiums for its medical coverage in 2013, prompting some of the 1.4 million workers at the nation’s largest private employer to say they will forego coverage altogether.

“I really can’t even afford it now, so for it to go up even a dollar for me is a stretch,” said Colby Harris, who said he makes $8.90 per hour and takes home less than $20,000 per year working in the Walmart store’s produce department in Lancaster, Texas.

Harris, a 22-year-old smoker, was set to see his cost per paycheck rise to $29.60 from $25.40. He says he has decided not to sign up for coverage.

The same article also refers to Wal-Mart’s “two-week pay period.” So this guy is saying that he “can’t afford” to pay $15 per week for health insurance, and yet he somehow manages to pay for his cigarettes.

I wonder how much he spends on cigarettes each week. The article doesn’t say – but I’m guessing it’s more than $15.

[TigersEye]

heh, it was a softball pitch just waiting for someone to hit it. There are going to be a lot of shocked ‘folks’ come 2014.

[xrmusn]

Well if he is working in the right area of WalMart he should have access to cigarettes.
If he is working in payroll, he can ‘adjust’ his pay records.

Sure it is stealing - what do you call what the Government is doing to all of us?

BTW, noticing the price of cigs in the comments....I remember about 20 or 25 per pack with a couple of pennies in the side.

Then went in the Navy and they were .90 a carton and .10 a pack if they had to break open a carton....

Of course when making $75 per month that wasn’t all that cheap...unless overseas.

[PLMerite]

“My sister’s brother in law couldn’t afford baby formula but could get his cigs.”

Used to be the men in the family or the neighborhood would take such a person out back and explain the theory of prioritization to him.

[ravenwolf]

I wonder how much he spends on cigarettes each week. The article doesn’t say – but I’m guessing it’s more than $15.

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I imagine it would be his own dammed business.

[WKB]

We must be the only non smokers on this thread.

[ravenwolf]

Good for him. Why should he be forced to buy something that it is unlikely he’ll use. Healthy,

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Me neither an we did not have to spend a fortune in the spa clubs to stay in shape, just work.

[Mears]

“You have to be kidding. $85 a carton????”

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Nope. Not kidding.State excise tax is $25.00 per carton,and then we have federal excise,and sales tax.

In NYC the state and city tax alone would be $58.50 per carton.That’s right,$58.50.

Federal excise tax is $12.00 a carton nationwide.

.

[TigersEye]

I guess it's just you. lol

I'm more angry about 0bamaCare than I am about most other issues though.

[jurroppi1]

in MN, as blue of a state as they get, they are 55 per carton for brand name smokes.

[ravenwolf]

simply based on the fact that smokers are not as healthy as non-smokers.

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I don,t care if people smoke or not but in a free country people should be expected to take the responsibility for them selves, if i am going to pay for some one else,s medical care what does it matter if they smoke or not as that is not the point.

Also i like kissing women who smoke because the ones who don,t taste like oysters,just an observation.

[Bronzy]

Well, my neighbor buys Gambler brand pipe tobacco for about $18.00/large bag. He buy tubes for under $2.00/carton. Says that he gets three cartons per bag. He has this little pull lever machine which packs the tobacco into the tube which makes a cigarette. Said that he paid $39 or $40 for the cigarette machine. I’ve seen it. It is easy to pack, pull the handle and produce a cigarette.

[Morris70]

A few years ago my raise equaled the $2000 increase In premiums plus my prescription meds. Plus office visits tripled and an annual test that was 100 percent covered went to no longer covered. Ended up being pay cut afterwards.

[The Antiyuppie]

“My wife works for Walmart, asst. Manager, and our healthcare and dental insurance costs have been rising every year. It seems that when she gets a raise the healthcare/dental increase costs eat up the raise. I wonder how long before Walmart will continue to offer insurance?”

I think that this is the same story everywhere.

Hard to believe that 25 years ago my wife and I insured each other FOR FREE, and there was no “Coordination of Benefits”. We would have had a hard time spending money on health care even if we needed it!

So, whatever you make, consider this. I don’t have as much in my pocket as I did 25 years ago including this and general inflation, and I was “starting out” then...

[MarkL]

The entire reason for Obamacare is to first make insurance unaffordable for companies to offer it as a benefit (I've seen projections to prepare for up to a 30% rate increase in 2014, when the majority of Obamacare kicks in) or employees to be able to afford it on their own, and eventually put the insurance carriers out of business. The eventual goal is for the government to take over providing health care.

I told my step-mother the other night that with Obamacare, she's supporting putting the same people in charge of the hurricane Sandy recovery in charge of her healthcare (both of her children are STILL without power at their homes!)

Mark

[SkyDancer]

And that’s on top of the price? You would think that people would be trying to quit. I bet it’s cheaper to get those Nicorettes or something rather than spend that much on smokes.

[Secret Agent Man]

Yuou know, for that much money a month, the guy spend a fraction of that on natural anti-carcinogen herbs and minerals and really’do something amazing for his health.

Oh, but he wouldn’t look cool and get that nicotene hit.

[terycarl]

it is totally irrelevant as to the amount he pays for cigarettes. The idiots in the government raised the price of cigs. from $.40 cents a pack to over $5.00...did they think that it would affect the rich???? The poor idiots voted for this and now they can’t cope with it. Everyone needs some pleasure in life and for the government to force meaningless price raises on us so that our necesseties in life force us to give up our pleasures, is unforgiveable.

[JohnD9207]

He is 22 so why does he need insurance for, isn’t his parents employers being forced to pay for his insurance by Obammy?

[terycarl]

But smokers should be paying several times the ‘standard’ health insurance rate simply based on the fact that smokers are not as healthy as non-smokers

how's your weight??

[SkyDancer]

Right. I simply can’t see what the joy there is in smoking. I watch people smoke and there doesn’t seem to be any reason to it. You inhale this smoke then blow it out. All for show or something? What’s the point? Supposed to be classy??? I won’t date guys that smoke. They basically stink.