Wal-Mart is Focus Of Health Care Bill

Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy, D-Mass., and several other Democrats introduced a health care bill on June 22 to force states to report large profitable companies that have 50 or more employees who receive government-funded health care.

Ted Kennedy

It’s called the Health Care Accountability Act, but it’s already being called the “Wal-Mart bill” and is considered part of a union- backed anti-Wal-Mart campaign.

The unions have been accusing the world’s largest retail company of shifting their health care costs onto taxpayers.

In a press release, Kennedy, Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, D-N.Y., and Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-NJ., said, “Wal-Mart’s relentless pursuit of corporate greed has come at a high price for their workers’ health care.”

They claim around 600,000 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. workers are not covered by the Bentonville company’s health care plan.

“Poverty-level wages combined with high dductibles, costly premiums and strict eligibility requirements force tens of thousands of Wal-Mart’s workers, spouses and dependents onto public health care programs designed for needy families and children,” the Democrats said in their release.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, a longtime foe of Wal-Mart, says Wal-Mart “fails to provide health care” for more than 52 percent of its 1.3 million workers.

Wal-Mart says many of the workers who choose not to enroll in companyoffered health plans are either teens covered by their families’ policies or older people covered by Medicare or retiree plans.

Wal-Mart’s Web site says “Wal-Mart does not encourage our associates to apply for public assistance,”

Wal-Mart said it provides health insurance to more than 568,000 of its employees. About 14 percent of its workers have no coverage. The rest rely on health care coverage from another source, such as a spouse or government program.

Most chambers of commerce have opposed such bills at the state level, saying that the “employer disclosure” legislation is the first step toward mandating that all employers provide insurance for employees or pay the state for the cost of not providing it. It is seen as potentially damaging for all businesses and wrongly assumes that businesses are obligated to provide health insurance.

Copyright Arkansas Business Jul 4, 2005