Labor Voices

State must make health care weasels pay
Taxpayers shouldn't pick up tab when Wal-Mart shirks fair share

By Mark Gaffney
First printed in The Detroit News 02/17/2006

It's no secret that America's health care system is broken, and any national solution to this nationwide problem is hopelessly caught in the great legislative traffic jam we call Washington, D.C. But Michigan residents don't have to wait around for help from the White House to win basic health care rights. We have a chance to move forward and demand that major corporations doing business in our state pay their fair share of health care costs.

It's wrong that large corporations like Wal-Mart weasel out of their duty to provide health insurance for their employees and shift those health care costs onto others, much like deadbeat dads or corporate polluters who close up shop before the cleanup costs come due.

The problem is widespread. A landmark study by the Commonwealth Fund found that among companies with 500 or more employees, more than a quarter of their workers actually don't receive any health insurance coverage from their employers.

Big firms lack coverage

Who pays the price?

Of course, these workers are the main victims. Most Americans understand that health care should be a right -- but these workers have nothing of the sort. Although they do the best they can to make ends meet, millions live in fear that they or family members will get sick because there is no way they can pay for a doctor or hospital.

A large number of those who are paid below-poverty wages, through no fault of their own, have to rely on Medicaid or other state programs when they become ill.

That means that if you're a taxpayer, you pick up the tab every time a business doesn't pay its fair share for health care and pushes its employees onto these programs.

The tab is colossal. The Commonwealth Fund estimates that taxpayers are paying $21 billion to cover workers whose employers don't provide health insurance. Other studies claim the insured pay at least one month's premium every year to cover the costs of the uninsured.

Other companies suffer

If you're a businessperson who does the right thing and provides health insurance for your employees, you pay dearly for the businesses that don't. Not only are they tilting the competitive playing field and unethically cutting their costs, they are undercutting you and putting you at an unfair disadvantage. You and your employees also pay higher health insurance premiums to cover care for their employees.

That is because health care providers, when they serve workers with no insurance, have to raise their fees to cover their own shortfall. The bottom line is that you and your employees get hit with much higher bills.

Is it unjust? Absolutely. But fortunately, there is a sensible and fair solution.

Responsible businesspeople, union members, community leaders and other reformers in Michigan now have a chance to join together to support a new Fair Share Health Care bill introduced by state Sen. Raymond Basham, D-Taylor. It would require large employers to invest at least 8 percent of their payroll in health care coverage for their employees. Employers who refuse will be required to reimburse the state for the difference.

Polls show enormous backing

Not only does the idea make good sense, it has enormous popular backing. In a recent Lake Research poll, 83 percent of Americans said they support requiring large, profitable companies either to provide health insurance for their employees or pay a percentage of their payroll into a health care fund.

Still, it probably won't be easy to pass this reform. When Fair Share Health Care legislation came up in Maryland last year, Wal-Mart flew in a platoon of lobbyists and waged a full-throttle campaign to stop the bill.

In the end, Maryland's courageous legislators defied Wal-Mart's pressure and passed Fair Share Health Care and even overrode Maryland's right-wing Gov. Bob Ehrlich's veto.

Wal-Mart and its allies are poised to use the same tactics in Michigan. Our legislators must do the right thing, and make sure that Michigan workers and their children have the basic health care they deserve. After all, they were elected to represent the people of our state -- not Wal-Mart.