Walmart Moves to HSAs

Erza Klein has the latest information on Walmart's decision to stop offering what little traditional health care plans it did offer and move to high-deductible HSAs.   After briefly describing the plan, he concludes,

This, of course, is only further evidence that it's time to stop making Wal-Mart offer decent health care -- which they will clearly not do -- and simply rip the responsibility away from them, ensuring all of their "associates" have generous, serious coverage they can fall back on. 

More worryingly, Target has promised the same move.  Which'll mean that the two largest retailers will both eschew traditional health care plans for low-cost (to the company), high-risk (to the employee), astonishingly stingy offerings.  Now, of course, any retailers who seek to compete with them -- and that includes supermarkets, clothing outlets, and all the rest -- will be at a competitive disadvantage if they fund traditional health care plans for their employees.