walmart The company confirmed to CNBC on Tuesday that it plans to cover more than 250 prescriptions for free to employees in 2027, including some insulin, inhalers and GLP-1 for diabetes.
At a time when many other employers are offsetting rising health care costs by raising prices and cutting plan benefits, the company is also expanding existing benefits and adding new ones to attract and retain workers. The announcement comes weeks before open enrollment for Walmart employees ends on Nov. 6.
Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States, Novo’s diabetes injection ozempic and Eli Lilly’s A rival company, with a new pre-approval, shot Munjaro free of charge to patients with type 2 diabetes.
However, the company is still not targeting Novo and Lilly’s GLP-1 for weight loss purposes. Other large employers similarly do not cover obesity treatments or have recently discontinued coverage to control health care costs.
The benefits changes build on Walmart’s longstanding efforts to increase employee compensation after earlier criticism of the health benefits and wages it offers. As of the end of fiscal 2026, Walmart employed approximately 2.1 million people worldwide, approximately 1.6 million of whom were based in the United States.
The company said in a statement that it will minimize premium increases for its employees, increasing the entry-level plan price by $1.50 per pay period to $39.80. Walmart told CNBC this is a smaller increase than the company made last year.
The company will also expand existing benefits that pay employees when they see cancer specialists at the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, according to a Tuesday letter to employees from Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief human resources officer. Starting next year, employees in most plans will be able to use this benefit to receive a second opinion from a specialist for rare diseases such as ALS, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
Among other additional benefits, the letter says, is up to 12 weeks of neonatal intensive care leave for parents, which can be added on top of regular parental and maternity leave.
“The steps we’re taking are based on years of planning and new initiatives. As a result, we’re able to make meaningful improvements for our employees without cutting benefits or significantly increasing premiums,” Walmart said in a statement to CNBC.
