I'm ashamed to admit I worked for the Black Iron Prison for five-and-a-half years, and carried their so-called medical "benefit" for most of that time. Wal-Mart used to offer a HMO option with a fixed, low co-pay and no deductible... until the poor dears decided it cost them too much money and it was eliminated in favor of their ripoff $350 deductible plan.
Yeah, I ended up using the ER as a primary care facility then. $350 is a hell of a lot of money out-of-pocket on Wal-Mart wages.
Fortunately I left before their great idea of cutting health costs by just not hiring people who might need health coverage.
I recommend contacting Wal-Mart directly and clearly and politely informing them you intend to contact your state and federal legislators to encourage new regulation and oversight of all aspects of their business. Wal-Mart is essentially a rogue corporation preying on residents of the United States and must be brought to heel.
Only the threat of government involvement in their daily activities will 'encourage' Wal-Mart to bend. Simple letter-writing campaigns get circular-filed before the ink is dry.
I also recommend not linking the Debbie Shanks incident to your letter, other than as an introductory example of their bad behavior. Allowing Wal-Mart to toss the Shanks some money to escape close scrutiny and oversight of other predatory behavior misses the point, however much it might help the Shanks.
It ain't much but at least it'll hit 'em where it hurts -- somebody looking over their shoulder. Who knows what might turn up...
Commenting by HaloScan
