Report says Wal-Mart, others cost state millions
02/07/2006
By CURT WOODWARD / Associated Press
Wal-Mart and other large retailers are pushing tens of millions of dollars per year in health costs onto taxpayers, a new report produced for Democratic state senators says.
Supporters of a bill that would force large companies to pay a minimum amount for health benefits plan to use the new data to press lawmakers for a vote on the measure.
Wal-Mart officials and business groups have railed against the proposal, saying it is meant to punish certain businesses and will have no real effect for workers who need help paying their hospital bills.
The report estimates that in 2004, Wal-Mart workers received more than $22.7 million in taxpayer-funded health benefits. More than $12.1 million of that total came from Washington state's coffers.
Democratic lawmakers and union activists discussed the findings at a Tuesday news conference. An early copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.
"This is a serious public policy discussion. We need to have an analysis of why this shift is occurring," said Rep. Steve Conway D-Tacoma, a co-sponsor of House legislation aimed at Wal-Mart's health care spending.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Holder questioned the report's accuracy and said company officials have been denied access to key state data on the subject.
In any case, employment numbers used to generate the cost figures are from 2004, and Wal-Mart has vastly improved its health care benefits since then, Holder said.
"It's an apples and oranges comparison from Wal-Mart in 2004 to Wal-Mart today," she said.
The bills being considered in Washington this year are part of a push by organized labor in more than 30 states to force minimum health care spending by employers.
On Tuesday, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, a trade group, sued to challenge a Maryland law designed to pressure Wal-Mart and other large companies to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health care or contribute the difference to the state Medicaid fund.
Washington state's version would require companies with at least 5,000 workers to contribute an amount equal to 9 percent of their payroll to health benefits.
State Senate staffers based estimates in the report on figures from two earlier confidential reports detailing which employers in Washington had the most workers receiving government health benefits in 2004.
In those reports, Wal-Mart was the leader in workers receiving government health assistance. The world's largest retailer has about 16,000 employees in Washington.
Using the earlier reports as a base, Senate staff members figured that Wal-Mart had an average of 3,180 employees on the state-federal Medicaid program and 456 on the state-funded Basic Health Plan in 2004.
The report includes public-health cost estimates for three other large retail or grocery outlets: Safeway, with more than $10.8 million spent on its workers; Fred Meyer, with more than $7 million; and Target, with more than $5.8 million.
Don Brunell, president of the Washington Association of Business, said targeting certain employers with spending mandates will not solve the underlying problems with expensive health care.
"A lot of folks are realizing ... the issue is much more complicated," he said. "It's not going to be solved with a Wal-Mart bill or anything else."
But Democrats said the measure would help stop what they see as an erosion in employer support for health care.
Other companies mentioned in the report — particularly Safeway and Fred Meyer — have been effectively forced to cut benefits as they try to compete with Wal-Mart, said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.
"I don't know that we can blame them," said Kohl-Welles, a primary sponsor of the measure. "If corporations all did the responsible thing — and most do — we wouldn't need this legislation."
Officials computed an average monthly cost to the state of $182 for workers on Washington's Basic Health Plan. Each worker who received Medicaid benefits was assumed to cost the state an average of $291 per month. The report also calculates the federal share for Medicaid clients.
The reports do not attempt to calculate the additional cost of taxpayer health benefits for dependent children of those workers. But the report said costs would increase by 20 percent for each Medicaid-eligible child supported by a worker.
Adding covered children would greatly increase the figures in Tuesday's report, bill supporters said. "We're looking at huge numbers here," said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent.
Wal-Mart, however, says more than 615,000 of its 1.3 million workers are covered by company health plans. The company also says it has taken some 160,000 people off the uninsured rolls.
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The health insurance bills are SB6356 and HB2517.
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On the Net:
Legislature:
http://www.leg.wa.gov
Fair Share Health Care Coalition:
http://fairsharehealthcare.net/
Wal-Mart:
http://www.walmartfacts.com
well i kno this is old info, b/c we've all heard it before, but I just like to remind people how much Walmart Sucks! and to never ever EVER SHOP THERE!!!!
Report says Wal-Mart and others cost state millions
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