wave of bad publicity, Walmart dropped its suit. In 2011, Walmart stopped providing health insurance for part-time employees working under 24 hours per week. In 2013, health insurance benefits will not be available to employees who work fewer than 30 hours per week. Experts in labor and health care observed that the change will shift the burden of providing health care for Walmart employees to the federal government, as eligibility for Medicaid has been expanded under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA). An analysis of Walmart's health plans as compared to plans offered in the ACA's health insurance marketplaces found that Walmart's plans have larger networks of providers than most plans in the marketplaces, and that gross premiums (before accounting for tax credits) are less expensive under Walmart's plans. In October 2014, Walmart announced that they were cutting benefits for all associates working under 30 hours a week, which is said to affect roughly 30,000 (2%) of Walmart's workforce. The company acknowledged a $500 million jump in health care expenses as the primary reason for their decision. Walmart executive Sally Welborn stated in a blog post, "This year, the expenses were significant and led us to make some tough decisions as we begin our annual enrollment." Labor union opposition Walmart has been criticized for its policies against labor unions. Critics blame workers' reluctance to join the labor union on Walmart anti-union tactics such as managerial surveillance and pre-emptive closures of stores or departments who choose to unionize. Walmart claims that it is not anti-union but "pro-associate", arguing that its employees do not need to pay third parties to discuss problems with management as the company's open-door policy enables employees to lodge complaints and submit suggestions all the way up the corporate ladder. In 1970, Walmart's late founder Sam Walton resisted a unionization push by the Retail Clerks International Union in two small Missouri towns by hiring a professional union buster to conduct an anti-union campaign. On the union buster's advice, Walton also took steps to show his workers how the company had their best interests in mind, encouraging them to air concerns with managers and implementing a profit-sharing program. A few years later, Walmart hired a consulting firm, Alpha Associates, to develop a union avoidance program. In 2000, meat cutters in Jacksonville, Texas, voted to unionize. Walmart subsequently eliminated in-house meat-cutting jobs in favor of prepackaged