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Court Rules for Wal-Mart in Maryland Suit [health care spending mandates.......]
New York Times ^

Posted on 01/17/2007 1:21:11 PM PST by Sub-Driver

Court Rules for Wal-Mart in Maryland Suit By MICHAEL BARBARO

A federal appeals court ruled today that Maryland violated federal law when it required Wal-Mart Stores to increase spending on employee health insurance, in a decision that appears likely to end a bitter yearlong legal battle that pitted state legislators, organized labor and health care advocates against the nation’s largest retailer.

The 2-to-1 ruling by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a major setback — if not a fatal blow — for a nascent campaign, called “fair share,” that sought to move millions of America’s working poor off of state-sponsored insurance programs, like Medicaid, and on to employer-based plans.

Facing ballooning Medicaid costs, the Maryland state legislature last year passed a law forcing major employers to spend the equivalent of 8 percent of their payrolls on health care. But it structured the legislation so that it was aimed at only one company — Wal-Mart, which has many workers rely on Medicaid in states from Maryland to Georgia.

Encouraged by the Maryland law, the first of its kind in the nation, lawmakers in dozens of other states said they would introduce similar bills to confront spiraling Medicaid costs.

But the appeals court, upholding a lower court ruling, found that the Maryland rule violated a federal labor law intended to allow companies to create a uniform system of health benefits across the country, rather than navigate a patchwork of state-by-state requirements.

By requiring employers in Maryland to restructure insurance plans, the court found, the law “conflicts” with the intent of the federal labor law, known as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA.

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


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: erisa; govwatch; healthcare; judiciary; unions; walmart
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To: calcowgirl
"Patient safety cannot be traded for "efficient health care delivery," no matter how cost-effective. Patients deserve better."

Well why not? Kaiser, the grandaddy of all HMO's and many other HMO's have been doing it for decades!!!

The horror stories abound. There are even numerous skeletons in the closet!!!

Why wasn't this posted in it's entirety? Would it have to be excerpted?

I like the tie-in to the illegals sending money back to Mexico, instead of buying private health insurance.

61 posted on 01/17/2007 8:35:09 PM PST by SierraWasp (There is no one else in the hollow "center" except CA's celebrity collectivist compellinator!!!)
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To: SierraWasp

It was posted here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769205/posts
CA: Governor Schwarzenegger's Flawed Health Care Plan

This is another good one from AmericanThinker on TennCare:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769201/posts
Governor Schwarzenegger Should Go to Nashville


62 posted on 01/17/2007 8:42:41 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: Graybeard58
What's a DelMarVa?

It is a peninsula. The peninsula encompasses the part of Delare that is south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal as well as the counties of Maryland and Virginia that are east of the Chesapeake Bay.

Also, I thought that Maryland misadventure into socialism had already been settled.

Oh, they've been settled alright.........into perpetuity.

63 posted on 01/17/2007 8:49:36 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
It's hell being married to me. ;)

Sort of like being married to me :)

64 posted on 01/17/2007 8:51:18 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: ElkGroveDan

But Arnold has the 9th Circus..


65 posted on 01/17/2007 8:54:12 PM PST by OrioleFan (Republicans believe every day is July 4th, but DemocRATs believe every day is April 15th. - Reagan)
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To: LM_Guy
I hope your Walmart prices keep dropping and keep up with the state tax increases that will be coming due to the exploding Medicaid costs that most states are facing.

When I shop in WalMart, I do shop in Maryland. The people that work there were VERY unhappy about the idiotic law the dems pushed through because they were perfectly happy with the benifits available to them.

66 posted on 01/17/2007 8:55:32 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Actually it contains Talbot County and abunch of other places that aren't important.

You gonna get slapped for that one my friend :)

67 posted on 01/17/2007 8:57:32 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: sgtbono2002
....the three states all have a piece of this Peninsula and sometimes it is called Delmarva.

Sometimes it is called DelMarVa? Sometimes? NO, my FRiend, it is ALWAYS called DelMarVa.

68 posted on 01/17/2007 9:01:42 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: calcowgirl

ALTO ALREADY!!! I already BOOKMARKED 'em both!!! We be chasin each other 'round the mulberry bush!!!


69 posted on 01/17/2007 9:07:16 PM PST by SierraWasp (There is no one else in the hollow "center" except CA's celebrity collectivist compellinator!!!)
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To: GeorgefromGeorgia
MD has COUNTY INCOME TAX!

Now, now. Tell them the rest... IT'S 50% OF YOUR STATE INCOME TAX!

Or is it more now?

That's why Montgomery County is so Democrat liberal nowadays - they can afford to be.

70 posted on 01/17/2007 9:08:52 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (Celebrate Monocacy!)
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To: RebelBanker
This was first and foremost a "screw Wal-Mart" bill and everyone in Maryland knew it.

As did everyone in Delaware and Virginia.

71 posted on 01/17/2007 9:12:03 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: Sub-Driver

2-1 by a panel of 3 - 'taint over till the fat ladies meet in full chorus.


72 posted on 01/17/2007 9:13:20 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck
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To: RebelBanker
A local talk show host (and long time White House correspondent) named Les Kinsolving refers to our state capital as "the Land of Political Enchantment" or "the Wackiest Capital in the Nation."

He obviously never spent any time in Dover, DE.

73 posted on 01/17/2007 9:16:38 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: Gabz

I'll plead "The Fifth" on that one, LOL!


74 posted on 01/18/2007 6:29:53 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

You're a smart woman :)


75 posted on 01/18/2007 7:06:10 AM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: Gabz

I call it the Eastern Shore, but if you say its Delmarva its ok with me.


76 posted on 01/18/2007 1:38:26 PM PST by sgtbono2002 (Peace through strength.)
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To: sgtbono2002

Either you're a long time Eastern Shore resident/native, or you're a western shore snob .........LOL!!!!!

Back in 1984/85 I worked at a radio station in Caroline County (which is considered the mid-shore) and I remember getting a call in the newsroom from a listener about a story I did about the Lt. Governor of Delaware having a delegation of Chinese officials coming. The woman said she missed part of my newscast and did catch the date the delegation was coming to the Eastern Shore. I explained to her they weren't coing to the Shore but would be visiting Delaware. She said "Honey, Delaware is on the shore" and was highly insulted when I said something along the lines of Delaware's only shore was the Atlantic Ocean and had no shore on it's western edge.

The Eastern Shore is only in Maryland and Virignia, Delaware is part of the entire peninsula, thus the name DelMarVa


77 posted on 01/18/2007 2:07:17 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: Gabz

Make that a Southern Maryland snob,

Durned eastern Shoreners coming over here stealing our Ersters.


78 posted on 01/18/2007 2:24:52 PM PST by sgtbono2002 (Peace through strength.)
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To: Sub-Driver

>>the socialists lose.........<<

No. The Looters lose...


79 posted on 01/18/2007 2:26:58 PM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Nazism was in 1938.)
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To: Sub-Driver
Of course Congress can rewrite ERISA to get around the court's ruling.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

80 posted on 01/18/2007 2:29:05 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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