Unions seek to spread cost of health care

[Judi Lynn]

Unions seek to spread cost of health care
`Fair share' sought from companies

By Barbara Rose
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 6, 2006

Labor unions announced a campaign Thursday to enact laws in 29 states including Illinois to ensure that big employers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. contribute more to their employees' health-care costs.

Proposed "fair share health care" laws, modeled after a controversial initiative in Maryland, would require large corporations to spend a certain percentage of their payrolls on health care or contribute to a fund for uninsured workers. Percentages would vary from state to state depending on the average outlay by big employers in each locale.

The union campaign, announced by the AFL-CIO, a 53-union coalition representing 9 million workers, comes amid renewed interest in solutions to the rising number of uninsured and the ballooning costs of public programs that must pick up the tab when working families can't afford health care.

"The issue is back on the table," said Jack Meyer, president of nonprofit Economic and Social Research Institute, a health-care research group in Washington. "There's a lot of interest in doing something limited (affecting) the large employers out of concern that some of their employees are going on Medicaid. A lot of states are looking at it."

In Maryland, lawmakers are expected to vote next week on whether to override Gov. Bob Ehrlich's veto of a bill that would require companies with more than 10,000 workers to spend 8 percent of payroll on health care. The measure is known as the "Wal-Mart bill" because the retail giant is the only corporation that would be affected.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0601060113jan06,1,4463020.story?coll=chi-business-hed
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[NewJeffCT]

1. good idea

Let's get this on the ballot in the fall and use it as our "gay marriage" issue to turn out our base.