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American Morning
Minding Your Business: United States of Uninsured
Aired September 30, 2003 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Millions more Americans, though, are losing their health insurance coverage.
To talk about that and not the do-not-call list this time around is Andy Sewer.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes. Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: Good morning.
SERWER: Yes, some bad news on the health insurance front this morning. News stories are reporting that more and more Americans are without health insurance. In fact, 2.4 million Americans more than last year don't have health insurance; 43.6 million Americans. That's 15.2 percent of the population are without health insurance -- the largest increase in a decade, still below the 1998 figure, but a very disturbing trend.
Let's break it down. As we might imagine, it's people on the lower end of the income scale, Heidi, who are faring the worst. But it's not just people making less than $25,000. You can see there, all sorts of middle-class people as well, and it's a trend that is disturbing, as I said.
And Tommy Thompson has said it's something that has to be addressed. Of course, Democrats say it has to be addressed one way, and the Republicans say it has to be another way.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart the nation's biggest employer, a fascinating story in "The Wall Street Journal" this morning, showing how Wal-Mart trims its health care costs, basically by not covering many people; 1.6 million Americans work at Wal-Mart, by far the largest employer in the United States and the largest company in the world.
Now, here's who Wal-Mart doesn't cover or what they don't cover: no retirees, and then you go through the stuff they don't get. No flu shots. You have to wonder if that really makes sense and saves money in the long run. No eye exams, no child vaccinations and no chiropractic. In fact, they spend 40 percent less than the average U.S. company on health care costs.
And when you're so big, you know, that really says something. They're cutting back. Other companies may be following suit.
The company says that it does cover catastrophic issues like cancer and organ transplant. Still, this is some bad press for the world's largest company. COLLINS: Yes, because when people are sick, they can't work, and then they have to cover for them.
SERWER: Right, exactly. And the deductibles are 3,500 a year at Wal-Mart, which is higher than at other companies -- significantly higher.
COLLINS: Interesting. Quickly, what do the markets look like today?
SERWER: Today, actually things are not going so well on the futures front, and the bug bugaboo, I guess, is Sun Microsystems. Sun is dimming.
Yesterday, we had a very good day, for once. But this morning, Sun is coming out and saying that they're going to be reporting a bigger-than-expected loss, so we'll be watching that.
COLLINS: All right. I wish it was more like yesterday, for sure.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Andy...
SERWER: I wish the sun was out.
COLLINS: All right, me, too. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: Right, OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 30, 2003 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Millions more Americans, though, are losing their health insurance coverage.
To talk about that and not the do-not-call list this time around is Andy Sewer.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes. Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: Good morning.
SERWER: Yes, some bad news on the health insurance front this morning. News stories are reporting that more and more Americans are without health insurance. In fact, 2.4 million Americans more than last year don't have health insurance; 43.6 million Americans. That's 15.2 percent of the population are without health insurance -- the largest increase in a decade, still below the 1998 figure, but a very disturbing trend.
Let's break it down. As we might imagine, it's people on the lower end of the income scale, Heidi, who are faring the worst. But it's not just people making less than $25,000. You can see there, all sorts of middle-class people as well, and it's a trend that is disturbing, as I said.
And Tommy Thompson has said it's something that has to be addressed. Of course, Democrats say it has to be addressed one way, and the Republicans say it has to be another way.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart the nation's biggest employer, a fascinating story in "The Wall Street Journal" this morning, showing how Wal-Mart trims its health care costs, basically by not covering many people; 1.6 million Americans work at Wal-Mart, by far the largest employer in the United States and the largest company in the world.
Now, here's who Wal-Mart doesn't cover or what they don't cover: no retirees, and then you go through the stuff they don't get. No flu shots. You have to wonder if that really makes sense and saves money in the long run. No eye exams, no child vaccinations and no chiropractic. In fact, they spend 40 percent less than the average U.S. company on health care costs.
And when you're so big, you know, that really says something. They're cutting back. Other companies may be following suit.
The company says that it does cover catastrophic issues like cancer and organ transplant. Still, this is some bad press for the world's largest company. COLLINS: Yes, because when people are sick, they can't work, and then they have to cover for them.
SERWER: Right, exactly. And the deductibles are 3,500 a year at Wal-Mart, which is higher than at other companies -- significantly higher.
COLLINS: Interesting. Quickly, what do the markets look like today?
SERWER: Today, actually things are not going so well on the futures front, and the bug bugaboo, I guess, is Sun Microsystems. Sun is dimming.
Yesterday, we had a very good day, for once. But this morning, Sun is coming out and saying that they're going to be reporting a bigger-than-expected loss, so we'll be watching that.
COLLINS: All right. I wish it was more like yesterday, for sure.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Andy...
SERWER: I wish the sun was out.
COLLINS: All right, me, too. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: Right, OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
