Kitty Rhoades wants you to keep paying for Badger Care health benefits for Wal-Mart employees

'Wal-Mart bills' focus on getting workers off government health care

Kitty Rhoades says:
Getting big business of government welfare sends a dangerous message to businesses. Supports letting the individual taxpayers and small businesses pay for Wal-Mart health benefits.

"It's hard to say we want to bring jobs here, and we want businesses to come to this state, and by the way, we're going to slap you with these things," said Rep. Kitty Rhoades (R-Hudson), who specializes in Medicaid issues for the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee

(Hey! There's $6 million Governor Doyle could use to help pay for the heating bills of the poor this winter or use to help provide poor kids with schlorship and college education assistance to they can earn degrees in engineering.)

"Why should small-business people have to foot the bill for someone who is making millions and millions in profit?"

That question is at the core of a new law in Maryland that effectively requires Wal-Mart to spend at least 8% of its payroll on health benefits or make a contribution to the state's health programs for low-income families.

Wal-Mart says 5% of its 1.3 million U.S. employees receive Medicaid, and 27% of its employees' children get health care through Medicaid or affiliated programs such as Wisconsin's BadgerCare. It says that percentage is lower than the retail sector average of 36%.

Unions and activists say dozens of states are considering variations of the Maryland legislation - including Wisconsin. In most states, the bills are given little chance of becoming law. Hearings were held last week on Wisconsin's version, backed by Rep. Terese Berceau (D-Madison) and Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), but the bill is all but dead in committee.

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