Posted on 01/15/2006 11:26:10 PM PST by indianrightwinger
HillaryCare Returns January 16, 2006; Page A14
Readers with long memories will recall that one of the reasons HillaryCare was defeated in 1994 was because of its unpopular employer mandate. Well, its diktat that all businesses provide health insurance is making a comeback, albeit at the state level and at first only for the largest companies. But all employers are on Big Labor's target list here.
That's the larger meaning of last week's events in Maryland, where the state legislature overturned the veto of GOP Governor Robert Ehrlich and passed a bill forcing any employer in the state with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8% of its payroll on health care or pay the state the difference. There are only a handful of companies that large in Maryland -- Johns Hopkins University and Giant Food, a grocery chain competing with Wal-Mart, among them. Only one meets all the criteria, however, so the legislation was dubbed "The Wal-Mart Bill," which in part it is.
But no one should think this will be an isolated political event. The state AFL-CIO threw everything it had into the bill, including a vow to withdraw support from any lawmaker who didn't vote to override the veto. Democrats who dominate both houses of the Maryland legislature went along. The national AFL-CIO now plans to use the Maryland law as a model for legislation in other states. Union chief John Sweeney has announced a campaign to enact "Fair Share Health Care Legislation" in more than 30 states. Washington and New Hampshire will be early targets.
The details vary by state, but already it's clear the new tax would eventually hit companies a lot smaller than Wal-Mart. In Rhode Island, proposed legislation takes aim at businesses with only 1,000 employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
for a tomorrow read
The unions should celebrate. For the rest of us, I think we've seen the precise instant that the pendulum, in Maryland, swung left as far as it's going to go. Nowhere to go now but back toward the center. This was over-reaching, showboating, and extreme hubris on the part of the State Legislature, the Dimowhacks, and the Unions.
"Whom the Gods Would Destroy they first make mad with power."
wrote historian Charles A. Beard. He borrowed it from Euripides.
Democracies, like a person with loss of the body's immune system, have no effective internal defense.
Healthy democracies are dependent upon leaders seeking the good of the nation. Otherwise, ala the Dem's, they are poisoned from within.
So true. . .but we know from history what it takes for that destruction and how long it can take. . .
We cannot let the efforts of these people succeed. . .(not looking good however)
And the march toward full-blown socialism continues.
MM
My understanding is that it violates a provision of the federal ERISA that requires equal treatment of all employers. Look for Walmart to challenge and win in federal court.
What these dingbats don't realize is that Wal-Mart is either going to
A) cut back its workforce
or
B) refuse to give raises/slash the pay of its employees.
Problem solved. You can't beat the market. You can kill it, but you can't beat it.
They also close because they can't pay the bills. I get what U R sayin' tho...
Exactly- when more costs are mandated upon a business ( taxes, regulations, benefits ) by the government, the business looks for ways to decrease costs.
Since payroll is one of the two biggests costs ( debt service being the other ) you start by cutting unproductive employees.
And if you're smart, you give some of the money you saved to the better employees as a reward.
Where I live, most people would love to have benefits ( pension, health care, etc. ) but need the full paycheck to pay living expenses- so they choose to take the money now, and hope they don't need the benefits in the future. As long as there's a choice, I fail to see why it's anyone else's business.
There is no rational reason for employers to provide health benefits to those who work for them.
There might as well be a bill that says realtors are required to provide health care to all who buy homes from them.
The only reason employers decided to give any kind of benefit (health, stock, vacation, etc.) was to keep good employees that they treasured.
This will end up reducing the number of jobs IF Wal-Mart chooses to remain in Maryland.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Do the Unions think this will spark more persons to join the unions?
Right on. Looks like WalMart is going to have 9,999 employees in Maryland from now on.
Why would you think that? Do you think Maryland Democrats are smarter than the old Soviets? Nyet, tovarsch, they aren't as bright. people are elected to the Maryland legislature on the basis of how much of the resources of the hard working they promise to the indolent.
And major corporations are pushing to have the govt take over health care.
Actually, one of the reasons that HillaryCare failed was that a full 75% of its rules/regulations pertained to punishment for those who sought health care outside of HillaryCare, and for the health providers who gave it. In addition, it was so oppressive, it would have drastically curtailed our freedom of movement within the domestic US by requiring citizens to obtain government permission to travel outside of their health care region to vacation or attend to business in another region. The reason given at the time was that health care costs differ across the country and people traveling from one region were not assured of receiving health care in another region without formal permission of the government for their travel.
In short, HillaryCare would have created a virtual Soviet Union in the US by requiring all Americans to have a domestic passport and visa authorizing them to travel from one region to another.
Today, IMO, the health care situation is a tossup. Many companies are pulling back on their benefit programs to push employees to private insurers or onto government plans. The plans are all so lousy or so expensive that the employees are pushing back. I think this article is signalling surrender way too soon - this battle isn't over, yet.
God willing, we will NEVER see HillaryCare come to fruition.
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