Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has a long list of reasons why its customers aren't spending as much as hoped: the expiration of the payroll tax cut in January, the November rollback of food-stamp benefits and continued uncertainty in Washington.
Now, the world's largest retailer is hinting at a new one: the looming individual mandate to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
The company attributed a third consecutive drop in U.S. comparable-store sales to a laundry list of macroeconomic headwinds when it reported earnings last week. Wal-Mart, which forecast continued gloominess through year-end, told analysts it would watch to see if the federal health-care law would take yet another chunk out of customers' pocketbooks.
"While it is not coming through in customer research, we do know that some of our customers are concerned about the impact of the Affordable Care Act," Carol Schumacher, vice president of investor relations, told analysts on Thursday. "For many of our customers, having to afford health care and insurance may be another line item in their personal budget that they may not have had to cover previously." Wal-Mart says it has 140 million customers a week.
True Value Co., the hardware-store cooperative with 4,600 locations, was more emphatic about the potential impact.
"This has been a massive concern for us," True Value Chief Executive John Hartmann said Friday. "Discretionary spending will certainly be impacted by the changes in the contribution Americans will have to make for health care."
Companies and their top executives haven't been shy about complaining about the financial and administrative burdens of the health-care overhaul. But it is rare for them to draw a connection to their sales prospects.Read the rest of the story HERE.
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4 comments:
It's getting to the point where the best choice for Obama and Democrats is to just go ahead and let Obamacare get repealed, and then blame the failure on the Republicans and insurance co's. The longer they cling, the more damage they do to themselves.
Then just go ahead and bomb Iran, and get Obamacare off the front page. lol
-Martha
Martha, that would make sense if Obama was a normal politician. For most of the rats in Washington, everything revolves around retaining power. Obama's actions are purely ideologically motivated.
I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't hit auto sales. If you are looking at a big bump up in insurance payments, you might want to put off a new car payment.
People are waking up to the fact that healthcare has become a very uncertain commodity, and just before Christmas, too. It is absolutely going to affect middle class families' decisions. Cars and all.
AZ
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