Fair Share Health Care is now the law in Maryland because the people took matters into their own hands. Regular Americans - Republican and Democrat, employees and employers - canvassed neighborhoods, manned the phone-banks and wrote to their local papers. They out-hustled Wal-Mart’s expensive team of lobbyists and fought back bought-and-paid-for politicians who tried to stop the legislation at every turn.
Fueled by this victory, state senators and representatives are pushing similar legislation in state capitals around the country. Every one of their states faces a crippling health care crisis, and they aren’t going to stand by and let Wal-Mart, or any large employer, pad its profits at the expense of taxpayers and small businesses.
Over the coming months, we will track the national progress of Fair Share Health Care, starting with the selected states in the right-hand column. It’s up to each of us to make Maryland count, so look around and act now to support Fair Share Health Care in your own community.
Want to get involved? Email us at .
Are you an Elected Official considering Fair Share? Go to our Elected Officials page for model legislation, facts and figures and notes for your upcoming floor debate.
RECENT FAIR SHARE CONTENT ON WAL-MART WATCH
- Wal-Mart Looking To Influence Health Care Debate
Wal-Mart is ramping up its Washington activity to push for comprehensive health care reform, and the world’s largest retailer says it is ready to use its economic muscle to get out in front and influence the discussion. - Mexico: Wal-Mart Discriminating Against Pregnant Women
When a woman was interviewed for a job at a local Wal-Mart in the Mexican capital, the first thing she was asked was whether she was pregnant – a question she did not know at the time was illegal. - Wal-Mart Announces Changes to Employee Health Benefits
Wal-Mart announced today that it will be expanding its health care plan, but the changes don’t address many of the fundamental problems with the company’s plan. - Wal-Mart’s New Health Plan: Medicaid
In the most recent report from Policy Matters Ohio, Wal-Mart tops the list of Ohio employers with the most employees receiving government health care assistance. - Wal-Mart Tops Ohio List of Medicaid Recipients
Wal-Mart’s failure to provide adequate health insurance for its 1.4 million U.S. employees isn’t just an unfortunate company policy - it’s something that affects taxpayers across the country.
FAIR SHARE HEALTH CARE IN THE NEWS
- Virginians Deserve a Living Wage: Commonwealth Should Follow Maryland’s LeadThe living wage would not only improve government services but also raise the standard of living of many Virginia workers, making them less dependent on government benefits and better able to contribute to the consumer economy. In a state as wealthy as Virginia is, no worker should live in poverty. More balance between the interests of employees and employers in the laws relating to employment would benefit all Virginians.
-- Washington Post - Md. drops effort to fine Wal-MartMaryland is giving up on a fruitless yearlong effort to charge Wal-Mart Stores Inc. a fine unless the retailer provides better health benefits to employees.
-- Associated Press via Boston Globe - Maryland will drop Wal-Mart law fightMaryland won’t challenge a federal court decision striking down the state’s “Fair Share” health care act, ending a two-year effort to force Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to pay more for employee health care, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said Monday.
-- Baltimore Sun - What’s the One Thing Big Business and the Left Have in Common?The struggle to establish universal health insurance, dormant for more than a decade, is back. Should it actually succeed over the next few years, historians may trace that triumph, at least in part, to a news conference on Capitol Hill—and to a most unusual figure who participated in it.
-- New York Times - Wal-Mart wins ruling on Maryland health spending lawWal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, doesn’t have to obey a Maryland law that would force the company to spend more on health care for its 16,000 employees in the state, a federal appeals court ruled today.
-- Bloomberg News - Md. Wal-Mart law dealt second defeatMaryland’s first-in-the-nation law to compel Wal-Mart to spend more on employee health care suffered another setback yesterday, providing fresh incentive for legislative leaders in Annapolis to explore ways to boost insurance coverage that do not involve the retailing giant.
-- Baltimore Sun - Appeals court upholds Wal-Mart health benefits decisionThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit today upheld a lower court’s decision to strike down Maryland’s Fair Share Health Care legislation, which would have required Wal-Mart to spend at least 8 percent of its payroll on health benefits or contribute to a state insurance plan for the poor.
-- Washington Post - Appeals court rules for Wal-Mart in Maryland health caseWhen Maryland legislators passed a first-of-its-kind law in 2006 forcing Wal-Mart Stores to spend more on employee health care, the measure was held up as a model for other states grappling with mounting Medicaid bills.
-- New York Times - Wal-Mart legislation is debated Attorneys for the state argued before a federal appeals court Thursday to preserve Maryland’s first-in-the-nation statute to force Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to spend more on employee benefits, but lawmakers in Annapolis have already begun looking for other ways to expand health care access.
-- Baltimore Sun - Maryland defends measure aimed at Wal-Mart benefitsAttorneys for the state of Maryland asked a U.S. appeals court Thursday to allow the state to enact a law that would require large employers, namely Wal-Mart Stores Inc., to spend more on employee health care or pay a tax to defray Medicaid costs.
-- Associated Press via Wall Street Journal - Maryland seeks to revive law on Wal-Mart health care spendingMaryland asked a U.S. appeals court to revive a law that would force Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, to spend more on health care for its 17,000 employees in the state.
-- Bloomberg News - Union’s ads criticize EhrlichA health care union supporting Mayor Martin O’Malley is launching two television commercials today as part of its $1 million effort to help the Democrat’s election campaign against Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
-- Baltimore Sun - Fair share health care trend fizzles outWhen Maryland earlier this year passed a bill requiring large employers to spend a specified amount on health benefits, some advocates predicted the idea would wildfire its way to other states as well. But while the idea did spread significantly, further action has not.
-- Employee Benefit News - Health care premiums increase 7.7%, outpacing wages and inflationThe health-care premiums of employers and their workers have climbed twice as fast as wages and inflation in 2006—to nearly double their cost in 2000—and they look to rise at a similar clip next year, two nationwide surveys show.
-- Wall Street Journal - Governor bars health benefit billSiding with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other large employers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have required them to provide healthcare benefits for their employees or pay into a state health fund.
-- Associated Press via Los Angeles Times
