Tufts Health Plan, a Watertown, Mass.-based health insurer with more than 1 million members, announced last week that it will pay all its employees at least $15 an hour, retroactive to May 24. That's $6 an hour above Massachusetts' minimum wage.
“Offering an equitable wage positively impacts the financial security of many of our workers immediately,” Lydia Greene, the health plan's vice president of human resources, said in a news release. The insurer has 2,400 employees. Officials said because Tufts already had a high wage floor of $14 an hour, the latest decision will affect only about 1% of its employees.
Tufts joins a growing list of big-box retailers and healthcare companies raising wages. In January, health insurer Aetna announced all Aetna employees would earn at least $16 an hour. Last month, Ascension Health lifted its wage floor to $11 an hour, a move that will benefit 10,500 of the health system's employees.