R.I. Healthcare that We All Pay For

You may have missed this article on healthcare a few days ago in Projo. While the Fair Share bill last year did not pass, a bill requiring businesses with over 250 employees (and dependents) on Medicaid to give some details about their employee health care plans did.

"Thousands of people who are workers, or dependents of workers, at some of Rhode Island’s largest companies last year got health coverage through the state Medicaid program for the poor, at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $10 million, a new state analysis shows....Those employers were Bank of America, Citizens Financial Group, the City of Providence, CVS Corp., S & S Credit Company, and Wal-Mart, along with three agencies that place temporary employees — Employment 2000, Qualified Resources, and Workers Mania.

“We have knowledge now that some significant corporations are in fact utilizing a safety net and a very good one … for their own purposes,” said Sen. Charles J. Levesque, D-Portsmouth, secretary of the Committee on Health and Human Services. “I’m not happy that they’re doing it.” Levesque said he believes all employers should offer insurance to all employees, full and part time.

The Fair Share bill targets businesses with more than 1000 employees to pay for health care or to pay a $ into the state health care system. This bill is said to target Walmart for it's lousy almost non-existent employee health care plan. In fact if you work in Newport, you can buy into a plan with Dr.s in Woonsocket, Providence, Cumberland and Coventry. Helpful, isn't it?
Now remember, it's your taxes that in effect offer these mostly profit-making employers' subsidies. Why?
The Fair Share bill never made it out of committee. Maybe this year it will. Better they should pay their fair share rather than pass it on to all the rest of us (unless we also receive the benefits).

Thanks to the Projo & their reporter, Felice Freyer.