Wal-Mart & McDonalds Both Using A Public Option To Cover Their Ohio Workers’ Healthcare

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/12072

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on September 30, 2009 - 5:37pm

Taxpayers are already covering health care for more than 100,000 Ohioans according to a new study. Jesse Russell reports:

According to a report released on Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services more than 100,000 Ohio workers are on Medicaid and are thereby being covered by taxpayers. Wal-Mart has by far the most employees on the Medicaid roles in comparison to all other companies in the state. The retail giant has more than 15,000 employees out of 54,000 in the state receiving Medicaid coverage. McDonald’s comes in a close second with nearly 13,000 employees on the federal and state program intended to provide coverage to the poor and disabled. Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the state of Ohio. The numbers were released as legislators plan to present legislation that would make the information on which companies use the most Medicaid dollars more accessible to the public. According to the Dayton Daily News, as of June 2009 Ohio has “spent $28.5 million on Medicaid, $14 million on food stamps, and $10.9 million on welfare for employees of the 50 largest companies.”

[elocs]

1. " Big Corps w/No Health Care Cost Wisconsin $33 Million" (from 2005)

http://www.scfl.org/?ulnid=1122

Using new statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services and Families USA, a new report by Wisconsin Citizen Action estimates that the annual costs borne by Wisconsin residents for corporations shirking their health care responsibility is much higher than simply the cost of paying for BadgerCare for their employees who qualify.

Due to the lack of health insurance, employees of companies such as Wal-Mart, Aurora Health Care, McDonalds and Walgreens, must rely not only on BadgerCare, but also SeniorCare, Family Medicaid and other publicly funded health care programs. The top ten employers with the greatest number of employees and employees' dependents enrolled in these programs cost Wisconsin over $33 million each year, according to the report.

“Though these numbers are appalling, they do not begin to fully calculate the costs society bears when employers fail to pay their fair share for health care," says Darcy Haber, health care campaign director for Wisconsin Citizen Action. "For example, for those who do not qualify for public health care programs, Wisconsin residents must absorb $910 per uninsured person through taxes, higher health care costs and increased private insurance premiums. In addition, there are the incalculable costs to families, and to society in general, of the stress and suffering incurred by the those who can't properly access our health care system.”

More than 18 percent of Wal-Mart employees, for example, are forced to receive some of their health care from a public health care program. That alone drains $13.9 million of our public health resources, much more than had been previously estimated. Then the report calculates an additional $910 for each of the approximately 3600 Wisconsin Wal-Mart employees left without any health coverage at all, adding another $3.3 million to society’s costs.

[Craftsman]

2. I think you will see mroe of this if any type of public option is in the health care bill

Corps will start to drop their insurance like a hot potato.

[fasttense]

3. Well, the corporations don't seem to be offering any insurance anyway.

I'll bet the few people employed by these hugely profitable corporations who are receiving adequate insurance are mostly mangers and CEOs.

[Craftsman]

4. I am an hourly Technician and have good insurance

Everyone in my company has the same plan.

[Blu_Statr]

5. If they can exploit the public option, they will

As they have a fiduciary obligation to do what benefits the corporation (not a bad thing, necessarily, but it needs to be dealt with).