Lured employers now tax Medicaid

[Guest guest]

" Magginkat " <magginkat

 

Mon, 4 Apr 2005 09:05:49 -0500

Lured employers now tax Medicaid

 

 

 

Lured employers now tax Medicaid

 

Employees of companies given incentives to create jobs are relying

heavily on health care for the poor. The biggest: Wal-Mart.

 

By SYDNEY P. FREEDBERG and CONNIE HUMBURG, Times Staff Writer

Published March 25, 2005

 

Wal-Mart Corp., which is getting millions of dollars in state

incentives to create jobs in Florida, has more employees and family

members enrolled in Medicaid than any company in the state.

 

The giant retailer, which has 91,000 full-time and part-time employees

in Florida, has about 12,300 workers or dependents eligible for

Medicaid, the growing health care program for the poor and the elderly.

 

According to figures released Thursday by Florida's Department of

Children and Families, Wal-Mart and four other large companies that

receive state incentives have an estimated 29,900 employees or their

family members enrolled in Medicaid.

 

The figures suggest taxpayers may be double-subsidizing low-wage

employment by paying companies to create jobs and by paying for the

health care of some of those companies' employees.

 

" This is another indication of how companies talk out of one side of

their mouth about the free enterprise system and private initiative,

but whenever they get the opportunity to exploit public resources,

they'll do that, " said Philip Mattera, research director for Good Jobs

First, a nonprofit Washington group that studies corporate incentives.

 

" If you're going to give subsidies, they should be used to create the

best possible jobs, not substandard or mediocre jobs, " Mattera said.

 

Wal-Mart, which had $10.3-billion in earnings last year, said 86

percent of its 1.2-million employees nationwide have health insurance

- 56 percent through the company's health care plan, the rest through

another source such as another employer, a family member, the military

or Medicare.

 

It said 5 percent nationwide get coverage through Medicaid - a number

that drops to 3 percent after employees are on the job for two years.

 

" As the nation's largest employer, we will by default be the largest

on many types of lists, " said spokesman Dan Fogleman, adding that the

retailer doesn't design its health plans to be supplemented by Medicaid.

 

Four other large companies getting state incentives appear on the top

of lists of employers with the most workers eligible for

state-financed health care. They are Publix Super Markets, Winn-Dixie

Stores, Burger King Corp. and Walgreen Co.

 

In addition, 3,342 children whose parents or guardians work for those

five companies qualify for Florida Healthy Kids and KidCare. Those

state-financed programs help 245,000 children whose parents or

guardians earn too much for Medicaid but can't afford or don't have

access to other insurance. (About 10,000 parents earn too much to

qualify for Healthy Kids and KidCare, but they are able to buy that

insurance at $98 per child per month - the amount it costs the program.)

 

Combined, these five firms have been approved by the state for up to

$10.8-million in tax credits and tax refunds for at least 3,805 jobs,

according to an analysis by the St. Petersburg Times.

 

Unlike some states, Florida does not require companies seeking

incentives to help pay for their workers' health insurance. Florida

also does not track the number of employees who were hired with the

help of incentives and get state-financed health care for themselves

or their families.

 

The Department of Children and Families, which determines Medicaid

eligibility, said some of the workers on the list may have private

health insurance and may not rely on the state for health care.

 

" When people are simultaneously enrolled in Medicaid and private

health insurance, Medicaid is the payer of last resort, " spokesman Tim

Bottcher said in a statement. " It would not be accurate to report that

Wal-Mart has 12,300 " on Medicaid.' "

 

Medicaid, a $14.4-billion program jointly financed by state and

federal funds, was originally a program for people on welfare. Now it

primarily covers the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women and

families with children at the poverty level.

 

Typically, two children could qualify for Medicaid if their parents'

combined income is less than $19,350 a year. A pregnant woman could

make up to $17,704 a year and her baby would automatically be eligible

for Medicaid for up to a year. A family of four is eligible for

KidCare if the parents earn less than $38,700 a year.

 

Increasingly, working families with children qualify for

taxpayer-funded health care because they don't have access to private

insurance or they're not offered affordable insurance by their employers.

 

The Tallahassee Democrat reported in December that the Department of

the Army, Department of the Navy, U.S. Air Force, Florida National

Guard, Walt Disney World, BellSouth, Blue Cross, Bank of America and

Dillard's also had Medicaid-eligible employees.

 

The St. Petersburg Times and its publisher, Times Publishing Co., have

about 150 Medicaid-eligible employees and Medicaid-eligible dependents

in Florida, the state said Thursday.

 

Wal-Mart said it pays its store workers an average of $9.36 an hour in

Florida, adding that it offers competitively priced health care to

full-time workers after six months and to part-time workers after two

years.

 

A study last year by the University of California at Berkeley -

disputed by Wal-Mart - concluded that California taxpayers spend

$32-million a year providing health care to Wal-Mart workers and

$54-million a year in other assistance such as free school lunches and

food stamps.

 

Like many large companies in Florida, Wal-Mart benefits from an array

of incentives designed to create and retain jobs. The incentives range

from federal funds to extend utility lines to local property tax

breaks to state tax refunds for creating " high-wage jobs. "

 

A study by Mattera, the Good Jobs First researcher, documented more

than $1-billion in state and local incentives for Wal-Mart nationwide

since 1981. That includes $51-million for five Florida distribution

centers and supercenters in Zephyrhills and Palatka, the study said.

 

Examining state tax incentives alone, the Times found that since 2000

the state has approved $6,799,000 in tax refunds and credits for

Wal-Mart if it creates 2,053 jobs. To date, state records show, the

company has been paid $2,389,000 of that.

 

Fogleman, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said that without Wal-Mart's jobs,

many more people would be on Medicaid and other forms of public

assistance.

 

Providing incentives to Wal-Mart is a bargain for taxpayers, Fogleman

said, because in Florida alone the company last year paid

$58.7-million in state and local taxes.

 

Florida is among nine states to report that Wal-Mart tops the list of

companies with Medicaid-eligible employees. The others are Alabama,

Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West

Virginia.

 

Increasingly, states and local governments are requiring recipients of

incentives to provide or pay for portions of their employees' health

benefits. Programs in Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina and other

states require health insurance in varying degrees.

 

Florida has been reluctant to embrace health care rules for companies

getting incentives, however. Businesses and their allies say such

rules would impose an unreasonable burden, be difficult to enforce and

discourage businesses from locating here.

 

A report paid for by Enterprise Florida, the state's main economic

development agency, recommended last month that the Legislature add

health insurance as a requirement for companies seeking tax refunds

for " high-wage jobs " in Florida.

 

The Agency for Health Care Administration, which administers Medicaid,

referred questions about health care standards for companies getting

incentives to the office of Gov. Jeb Bush.

 

Jacob DiPietre, the governor's press secretary, did not address

whether the governor favors health care rules for companies seeking

incentives.

 

DiPietre said that under the state's most widely used incentive

program, all 33 companies that have received tax refunds this year for

creating high-wage jobs offer health benefits.

 

Bush has complained that Medicaid is devouring the state budget. The

program has more than doubled in the past six years to about

one-fourth of the state's $57.3-billion budget.

 

Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

 

 

 

Just wait till Jesus gets his hands on you, you little bastard......

Abbie Hoffman