Today, U.S. Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ), along with U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY), held a press conference in Washington D.C. announcing the introduction of the Health Care Accountability Act (HCAA). Wake-Up Wal-Mart, a campaign funded by the UFCW, was a part of the press conference, which was clearly aimed at Wal-Mart. The stated purpose of the legislation is to “expose employers that have a high number of employees on public health care assistance, and the extent to which taxpayers are subsidizing the health care costs of large corporations.”
In terms of this legislation, we encourage transparency as long as the collection is equally applied to all employers in the U.S., not just aimed at Wal-Mart. It is long past time for meaningful reform of our health care system and an end to rising costs. We remain eager to work with legislators and all interested parties to make health care more affordable to everyone
This issue is much broader than Wal-Mart. Our nation, including large and small employers, faces a health care crisis. Unfairly targeting individual companies is simply not the answer, especially when a company like ours provides over 1.2 million jobs in the U.S. and insures more than 900,000 people (associates and their families).
It is important that if we use this data collection as a baseline moving forward that the data be comprehensive and accurate.
It is unfortunate that these individuals rarely point out the positive impact Wal-Mart has on the economy including the jobs we provide, the taxes we pay, the chartable organizations we support and the great value we provide to customers.