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The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.:
May 8, 2005. pg. B.08 |
The Fair Share Health Care measure recently approved by the Maryland General Assembly requires companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care for their workers. This law, sponsored by Sen. Gloria G. Lawlah (D-Prince George's) and Del. Anne Healey (D-Prince George's), stipulates that companies that don't spend that amount must pay the difference between what they do spend and the 8 percent into a fund for the state Medicaid program. As businessmen, we agree with the 78 percent of Marylanders in a recent poll who said that this is a good idea.Maryland law mandates that the premiums of those who pay for health insurance be used to cover hospitalization of the uninsured, so it makes sense to adjust this mandate to require that all large businesses pay their fair share of health care costs. In addition, as taxpayers, we all subsidize a company that does not do its part. People who do not get health care through their employers often go into the state's Medicaid program. The Maryland Fair Share law has been criticized as too risky for one state to do alone and too narrowly focused on one company, Wal- Mart. We disagree on both counts. Most large businesses provide full health care for their employees and spend more than 8 percent on providing it; Giant Food, for example, spends more than 20 percent of its payroll on health care for its workers. The new law will help these businesses by reducing the amount that they will have to pay in health insurance premiums to subsidize the few large companies that have stinted on employee health care. The law also will attract to Maryland large businesses that provide the good jobs we want in our state that would be happy not to have to subsidize competitors. The Fair Share Health Care law is not intended to apply to only one business. Its goal is to make sure that no large business can spend less than a fair minimum on health care for its employees. At present, three private Maryland companies are large enough to meet the 10,000-worker threshold: Giant Food, Northrop Grumman and Wal- Mart. And one of these -- Wal-Mart -- may be under the 8 percent minimum.Wal-Mart earned $10 billion last year, so surely it can afford to pay its share for health care if it is not doing so already. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas M. Middleton (D- Charles) and House Health Committee Chairman John A. Hurson (D- Montgomery) have said that Marylanders believe that everyone should have access to affordable health care. While this measure is not a full solution to that problem of paying for that care, it is an important step in the right direction. -- Bill Struever
-- Bart Harvey are, respectively, president of Struever Brothers and chairman of Enterprise Social Investment Corp.
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