You may have seen this story from last week about Walmart's rather surprising support for President Obama's health care reform proposal. Of course we are all for health care reform. Walmart workers, and workers everywhere, need real change in their health coverage. There are far too many Americans who can't afford decent health insurance, or who are forced on to state health care, or who are going bankrupt from health related issues. We'e thrilled if Walmart actually wants to work for health reform that will mean their employees will get quality care when they get sick.

But Walmart's record suggests that this move is more talk than action. As we've discussed, Walmart is engaged in a massive PR campaign attempting to repair their name when it comes to health care. For years, campaigns like this one have called Walmart out for not covering its employees adequately and for shirking its responsibility by forcing its employees on to state run health care programs. Now Walmart wants to be known as a leader in health care and health care reform. It might be easier to swallow that if Walmart had lead by example, but instead they did the exact opposite. And it hasn't gotten much better. Walmart still fails to cover over 48% of its employees or 675,000 individuals and who knows how many more children of employees.

This opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun illustrates how poor Walmart's health coverage still is:

Wal-Mart is an image conscious opportunist. I have several Wal-Mart employees as my patients. I can in all honesty declare that Wal-Mart, a wealthy corporation, for years got away with providing its employees no health care coverage at all or the type of coverage from which doctors could barely eke out payments.

Out of pocket expenses for patients are outrageous with this coverage. Hand me a Wal-Mart health insurance card, and I will let out a spontaneous sigh of exasperation because I know from experience what lies ahead is a runaround for meager compensation after I have delivered all the services.

You say Wal-Mart has obtained religion and is behind Obama's health plan? Will there be a richer bounty on my plate now for tending to my overworked and underpaid Wal-Mart flock tenderly? Somehow I doubt my sighs of exasperation will cease with this new miracle under way in the health care sector.

A fed up doc

Maybe when Walmart offers quality, affordable health coverage to it own employees, we'll believe them when they say they want everyone in the country to have good health care. Until then, we think it sounds like PR, pure and simple.