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The Unhealthy Choice [Walmart should hire sick people]
Fairfield County Weekly (CT) ^ | November 3, 2005 | by Alistair Highet

Posted on 11/03/2005 5:33:03 AM PST by TaxRelief

...A leaked memo last week from Walmart's executive vice president for benefits, Susan Chambers, suggested that the next move in cost-cutting at the nation's largest private employer would be to "dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Walmart."

...You should think about this, because if you believe your company isn't harboring similar thoughts, you are living in a dream world. As a spokesperson for Walmart said after the memo was leaked, "Every business in America... [is] having conversations in their boardrooms just like ours."

(Excerpt) Read more at fairfieldweekly.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: fairfieldcounty; health; nationalhealth; socialism; socialistagenda; walmart; workplace
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This editorial needs responses. Alistair the Socialist can be contacted by email at: ahighet@hartfordadvocate.com
1 posted on 11/03/2005 5:33:05 AM PST by TaxRelief
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To: TaxRelief

Why would any employer want to hire people who are prone to sickness or injury?


2 posted on 11/03/2005 5:35:43 AM PST by linkinpunk
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To: linkinpunk
So... that would include just about anyone over say... 45?

And let's not forget women. They suck up a whole helluva lot of healthcare costs all thru their reproductive years.

3 posted on 11/03/2005 5:39:31 AM PST by bikepacker67
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To: TaxRelief
IMHO, Health insurance is the biggest single contributing cause to the cost of our health care. You go to the doc, and don't have to pay. Then, when someone questions why they gave you an MRI for your head cold, they can say "it isn't costing you anything!"


4 posted on 11/03/2005 5:39:51 AM PST by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
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To: linkinpunk
And what about those board members themselves...

I'm sure some of the old farts have bypassed tickers.

5 posted on 11/03/2005 5:40:27 AM PST by bikepacker67
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To: linkinpunk
Actually, you can't ask in an interview. Under ADA I am protected. You can only ask if I can perform the job with or without reasonable accommodations.
6 posted on 11/03/2005 5:41:01 AM PST by EBH (Never give-up, Never give-in, and Never Forget)
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To: linkinpunk
Because, business' sloe responsibility is to the masses. When socialist government does not fit the bill due to all the angry right wingers refusing notions of national healthcare, the courts will step in. The courts will make up some right to a job and healthcare and force business' to give anyone a job and healthcare because it is some sort of human right. (Sarcasm for those of you to thick to get it).
7 posted on 11/03/2005 5:41:55 AM PST by satchmodog9 (Free choice is not what it seems)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: EBH

Yea, but I think the 5th amendment protects the employer and his property. If he wishes to hire based on a person's weight, tobacco use, apparent medical condition, or any other reason, he should be perfectly within his right.

After all, there is no "right to a job" in this country. Yet.


9 posted on 11/03/2005 5:43:57 AM PST by Veritas et equitas ad Votum (If the Constitution "lives and breathes", it dies.)
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To: TaxRelief
...and yet on more than five occassions in the last 100 years, this country has considered universal health-care, and walked away

Ah, the only way it could get more socialist than the heavily exploited shell game that it already is.

10 posted on 11/03/2005 5:44:02 AM PST by Theophilus (Save Little Democrats, Stop Abortion)
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To: A-10

I agree with your second sentence, but is there a need to use that "h" word you used in the first?


11 posted on 11/03/2005 5:45:19 AM PST by Veritas et equitas ad Votum (If the Constitution "lives and breathes", it dies.)
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To: bikepacker67
--So... that would include just about anyone over say... 45? --

--if you haven't been to a Walmart lately, they are one of the few employers who does hire people over 45 and in fact get slandered by the unions by presumably avoiding insurance costs by hiring those on Medicare--

12 posted on 11/03/2005 5:48:55 AM PST by rellimpank (urbanites don' t understand the cultural deprivation of not being raised on a farm:NRABenefactor)
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To: TaxRelief

I would expect any company doing business with the public to do whatever it could to keep sick people away from customers, and each other.


13 posted on 11/03/2005 5:54:57 AM PST by billhilly (If you're lurking here from DU (Democrats unglued), I trust this post will make you sick.)
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To: TaxRelief
Read the entire article and it is nothing but propaganda for Socialized medicine...fired off a wee bit of a letter to the doofus.
14 posted on 11/03/2005 6:00:06 AM PST by socialismisinsidious (Liberals are all about choice UNTIL you choose differently than them.)
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To: Veritas et equitas ad Votum

Be careful as there are a number of other reasons that have already been legislated against. Just look at the statements on most employment applications and thinking about the protected classes vs. health care. Businesses that try to hire healthy need to be very careful lest they find themselves in a pot of discrimination suits.

The problem rests with the insurance companies, not the employers. An easy way for employers to get around this is to work with the insurance companies and offer benefits to those who a qualified by the insurance company. Those who don't meet the insurance company's "health standard" can still work for the employer, but are not eligible for the benefit or pay a higher rate. This way the employer stays out of the discrimination mess. Health insurance is a benefit, not a right.

A simple changing of the language used would do the trick. Instead of stating the company has health benefits. They would simply state Health benefits are available to those who qualify.


15 posted on 11/03/2005 6:00:39 AM PST by EBH (Never give-up, Never give-in, and Never Forget)
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To: pageonetoo

I recently had out patient surgery (Hernia repair) In and out in less than 4 hours and most of that time was spent waiting. The bill just from the hospital was $11,289. That did not include the docs fees or radiology and other tests.

I am fully insured but realize that one way or another I pay in the long run.

I have a B/P prescription filled every month, my wife has B/P, hormone and allergy prescription. Insurance pays more than $300 per month for those.

I don't have any answers but something has to give.


16 posted on 11/03/2005 6:01:52 AM PST by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Sgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: Veritas et equitas ad Votum
I agree with your second sentence, but is there a need to use that "h" word you used in the first?

Healthcare?

17 posted on 11/03/2005 6:02:17 AM PST by Rio (Don't make me come over there....)
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To: A-10

>>>What about homofaggots, whose healthcare costs far outstrip every other know classification. >>>

What evidence do you have to support this? Or is this just justification to support your obvious anger issues?


18 posted on 11/03/2005 6:04:12 AM PST by sandbar
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To: Veritas et equitas ad Votum
What about homofaggots, whose healthcare costs far outstrip every other know classification. - A-10

...is there a need to use that "h" word you used in the first?

Really. You should use the term butt buddy. It is more descriptive. AIDS patients also receive SSI...

"* Medicaid is the single most important program serving people with HIV. Seven of ten dollars spent on AIDS care come from Medicaid [Medi-Cal in California]. Medicaid provide health care to more than 90% of children living with HIV and roughly half of adults with AIDS.

" *The average cost of care for a person with a disability in Medicaid is approximately $8,000/year. Without protease inhibitors or other new drugs, the average cost of care for a persons with AIDS exceeds $20,000/year in many locations. - AIDS.ORG

19 posted on 11/03/2005 6:07:32 AM PST by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
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To: A-10
What about homofaggots, whose healthcare costs far outstrip every other know classification.

My wife is in Wal-Mart management and I am a Wal-Mart supporter but I can't help but notice over the years at all the W/M stores I have been around that there seems to be an awfully lot of homosexuals there and my wife has assured me that my observation is correct. I am not bothered by what the queers do in the privacy of there bed rooms but they are for sure a high risk health group.

Wal-Mart, like every other company can't discriminate in their hiring based on someones sexual choices.

20 posted on 11/03/2005 6:10:07 AM PST by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Sgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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