Walmart is always keen on cutting cost, but shouldn't Walmart enter the business of health insurance and help bring down the price of the industry for everyone?

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. next year will curtail options it offers newly hired workers for health-care coverage, promoting a low-premium, high-deductible plan.

The retailer anticipates its "Value Plan" will let employees with few health-care needs save money through low premiums. Critics, however, argue the shift allows Wal-Mart to cut its costs for health-care benefits and discourage unhealthy people from seeking work at its stores.

Wal-Mart introduced the Value Plan early this year. It allows employees to pay premiums as low as $11 a month in some areas in exchange for a relatively high deductible of $1,000. It also allows a given employee three visits to the doctor and three prescriptions for generic drugs a year before the deductible kicks in. It imposes no lifetime cap on coverage.

On Jan. 1, the Value Plan will become the primary of three options available for Wal-Mart's new hires. Another is a health-savings-account plan that gives employees a tax-free option to set aside part of their own pay with supplements from Wal-Mart of as much as $2,400 a year for use in paying medical expenses. In 16 states, Wal-Mart also provides coverage through health-maintenance organizations.