Wal-Mart Regrets Exec's Comments on Health Care for Immigrants

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Oops. Apparently Wal-Mart is not pleased with something one of its executives said about health care.

Wal-Mart recently announced its support for requiring large corporations to provide health insurance to their employees. But a Wal-Mart VP took things one step further last weekend while speaking on a health care panel at the annual conference of Latino group National Council of La Raza.

When asked the company’s position on health care for undocumented immigrants, John Agwunobi, who oversees Wal-Mart’s health and wellness business unit, responded, “We believe strongly that everyone should have access to affordable health insurance. Everyone.”

The comment earned him applause and appreciative whistles from the audience, but Wal-Mart was not so happy. After Chicago’s WBEZ reported the story, Wal-Mart made numerous calls to reporters and editors at the station, according to reporter Chip Mitchell.

Wal-Mart’s media relations director, Greg Rossiter, and corporate affairs manager, Phillip Keene, insisted I miscast Agwunobi’s point. They said he was talking about affordability, not extending coverage to illegal aliens. Keene asked us to remove the story from our Web site.

I can understand why Wal-Mart wouldn’t want to be perceived as taking sides on such a hot-button issue as immigration. But first of all, asking the station to take down its story? Really?

And secondly, from a public health perspective (which is Agwunobi’s background), what he said makes sense, regardless of one’s position on immigration. As another panel speaker went on to mention, if we don’t treat sick people who are in this country, whether they have permission to be here or not, they can get the rest of us sick. And nobody wants that.

Tags: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Health Care, Vertical Industries, Healthcare, Benefits, Human Resources, Katherine Glover

Katherine Glover is a Minneapolis-based print, radio and online journalist. She's written for Salon.com, Sierra Magazine and many others, and she does a weekly blog on immigration issues for MinnPost.

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Brittanicus

07/30/09 | Report as spam

RE: Wal-Mart Regrets Exec's Comments on Health Care for Immigrants

As our rights are infringed upon by our own government, so Americans and those here legally will never benefit from a decent health care plan, owing to the abomination called ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. By an Act in United States Congress passed in 1986, Hospital and ambulance services must provide care to anyone needing emergency treatment in spite of citizenship, legal status or capacity to pay. The predicament being that 20 million plus illegal immigrant families are using this law, for even minor ailments such as the common cold. Why should foreign nationals sign up for health care or anything, when they can get Taxpayers to pay for it all..?
But this is not just an American dilemma, as it has been forcibly imposed on subjects of the European Union. This is causing a major derailment in the EU, because both legal and illegal entrants are stealing away the single payer medical care providers, to the citizens who have paid into the system from the time they first started work.

A decent controlled governmental health care benefit, can?NEVER--be established, when a startling report disclosed the details of a cloaked meeting between nationwide businesses and open-borders groups working under the radical cover of the IMMIGRATIONWORKSUSA a lobbying group. The secret Capitol Hill National Summit" took place last month and revealed the sinister intention behind the lobbying entities efforts.
Tamar Jacoby, who runs ImmigrationWorksUSA, kicked off the conference by stating the true aspiration of the coalition. The basic target is to promote THE FREE FLOW OF LABOR INTO THE USA, with?AS ALWAYS-- the taxpayer being the beneficiary for corporate welfare. They want expedited cheap labor, where no American worker?NEED APPLY!

WE MUST ACT NOW, OR IT WILL BE TOO LATE! These special interest lobbyists are well furnished with money from corporate America. We must empower mandated E-Verify as part of the Save Act, where everybody is screened in the workplace. Call your lawmaker TODAY! at 202-224-3121 I Want a health care system--even government run. BUT IT"S SURE TO FAIL, IF TAXES ARE BEING EXTORTED TO PAY FOR FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS?

Millions of phone calls from angry Americans are jamming the Washington Switchboards. It is making these pandering politicians to corporate welfare, very anxious. Support for the bi-partisan E-VERIFY PART OF THE SAVE Act, which will expand E-Verify and protect American Workers! We must focus on the monolithic problem in terminating illegal immigrants-and the jobs that attract illegal aliens. WE WILL ALWAYS BE PAYING FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS, UNLESS WE DO SOMETHING NOW? Many GOP members are against a Path to citizenship for lawbreakers, so we mostly need the phones ringing in the ears of Democrats, who see the millions of illegal aliens as a positive voting block. WE MUST STOP IT NOW OF SUFFER FROM IRREVERSIBLE POPULATION GROWTH.

DEMAND NO AMNESTY! NO FAMILY UNIFICATION KNOWN AS CHAIN MIGRATION! BUILD THE ORIGINAL FENCE! NO MORE HEALTH CARE OR ANY OTHER KIND OF BENEFITS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. CLOSE THE BORDER AND STATION THE NATIONAL GUARD. $2.5 TRILLION DOLLARS, JUST IN RETIREMENT BENEFITS? Learn uncorrupted facts at NUMBERSUSA.
2

MackBL

07/30/09 | Report as spam

RE: Wal-Mart Regrets Exec's Comments on Health Care for Immigrants

Not surprised by John Agwunobi comment in support of the ILLEGALS but I am surprised about wal-mart running from his Pro-ILLEGAL comment. Reminds me of a story I may have posted before concerning wal-mart and Mexican flags; about 5 or 6 years ago in Texas City, Texas and wal-mart had an enormous mexican flag hanging down from the ceiling about 50% larger than the United States Flag beside it. Once I found an employee who spoke English in complete sentences I ask her why the mexican flag was displayed in the Texas store? She just said several people have asked and directed me to a service center. I registered my protest and left, as far as know the mexican flag is still being celebrated and flying high in the Texas City, Texas Wal-mart. Of course it just may be a Texas or a Texas City PASSION.
3

TactixSales

08/02/09 | Report as spam

RE: Wal-Mart Regrets Exec's Comments on Health Care for Immigrants

I totally get Wal-Mart's position. It wasn't too long ago that they were being assailed by the authorities for their strident lack of diligence in verifying the citizenship of employees. Given that background, the issue of illegal immigrants is not water that the world's largest retailer wants to wade around in. Public opinion is strongly against insuring illegal immigrants, so in addition with their previous issues with illegals, why should Wal-Mart swim against the public tide? It's hard to believe that the Wal-Mart spokesperson put himself out there that way, but even the smartest people make unbelievable mistakes sometimes.