Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the amount of uninsured workers being forced onto state programs has risen 13% in the last year. Here are a few specifics from the story:
A recent state Department of Health and Family Services analysis shows that at the 18 biggest employers of BadgerCare recipients, the total number of employees and their spouses and dependents enrolled in the program was 5,573 in March 2006, up from 4,923 in April 2005.
It should be no surprise that the employer topping this list is Wal-Mart Inc. They came in first with 904 employees enrolled in BadgerCare, the state health care program for low-income families. They have over twice as many as McDonald's Corp. which placed second.
Governor Doyle called for legislation earlier this year to prevent employers from dumping employees into state programs like BadgerCare, but the Republican controlled Legislature refused to act on that proposal. As a result we now see that this dumping of employees has continued to rise.
One of the most outrageous comments in today's story is from a Wal-Mart spokesperson claiming that they have worked to improve their benefits program. Oh really? Last year Wal-Mart ranked number one with 809 of their employees enrolled in BadgerCare. As stated above, over the last year they have dumped 904. That doesn't sound like an improvement. That sounds like an increase of nearly 100!
Large corporations continue this type of behavior with no shame and the taxpayers flip the bill. Governor Doyle and others have proposed making these employers pay their fair share but the Legislature refuses to cooperate. The leadership in the current Legislature are practically bought and paid for by corporations like Wal-Mart. For example, representatives of Wal-Mart are some of the top contributors to Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo).
It appears that John Gard and others have chosen higher taxes rather than forcing the "Wal-Marts" in this state to pay their fair share.
*Originally posted on 7-1-06 at http://onewisconsinnow.org/...