The NYT ran a big-time fluff piece for Wal-Mart today, telling readers that it now provides insurance for 100,000 more workers than it did three years ago. To see why the celebration may be premature look at the accompanying charts. They show that just over 60 percent of full-time employees have health insurance and less than 15 percent of part-time employees are covered. The percent of covered employees in each category has only inched up modestly over the last three years. Undoubtedly much of the increase in coverage was simply due to the growth in employment at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's efforts to extend and improve coverage are a good development for people who want to see more workers with access to good health care, but perhaps not as big a deal as this article suggests.
--Dean Baker
