More corporate welfare for MaoMart

[SHRED]

Nearly 28% of Walmart workers in Ohio on Medicaid
| Sep 30, 2009

Yesterday the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released a report listing major companies whose employees are forced to rely on various state run programs like Medicaid and food stamps. With health care reform on the front burner of the American political agenda, this is obviously a pretty important report. It shows that large companies are shirking their responsibilities and forcing tax payers to subsidize them, and guess who was at the top of the list in Ohio.

That’s right, Walmart has more than 15,000 employees in Ohio on Medicaid, costing state taxpayers $68 million a year. Walmart has more employees enrolled in Medicaid and on food stamps than any other company in the state (which is the case in many states). In fact nearly 28% of Walmart’s employees in Ohio are on Medicaid, and around 23% are on food stamps.

If you read this blog regularly, you know that Walmart is attempting to convince the American people that their company is a positive force when it comes to health care. They’ve run ads, started programs, attempted to open health clinics in their stores, and more. But stories like this throw Walmart’s credibility in to question. How can we trust a company on health care when it fails to cover nearly half of its own employees? How can we trust a company on health care when they are slashing benefits for their own employees? How can we trust a company on health care when they claim that only 2.6% of their workforce in America relies on Medicaid, but nearly 28% of their employees in Ohio are enrolled in Medicaid? If Walmart really believes in health care reform, they need to lead by example. If Walmart really believes in health care reform, they need to offer quality affordable health care to their workers.

http://walmartwatch.com/

[LiberalEsto]

1. Mall Wart probably carries dead peasant insurance

on their minimum-wage slaves. This is the insurance coverage that companies secretly buy to cover their workers. If the worker dies, hooray! The company collects the insurance payoff. Not a penny for the worker's family.

It's a win-win for Mall Wart. This way, they can make money on workers who get sick and die, while saving money by not providing adequate employee benefits. Motherfuckers.

[PA Democrat]

2. You're right about the dead peasant insurance. They have been doing it for years.

Wal-Mart has taken out life insurance policies, known as "dead peasants" , on low-wage hourly employees that pay benefits to the company when the workers die. On top of that - before Congress began cracking down on the practice in 1996 - companies were able to take out loans against the value of these policies and enjoy a tax write-off on the interest payments.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1102-06.htm