SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Supermarket operators in California are divided on a ballot initiative calling for large employers to provide health insurance for workers.
Last week, Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, Ark., said it was donating $500,000 to a coalition that opposes Proposition 72 -- which appears on Tuesday's election ballot in California -- after backers made the company the focus of their advertising efforts in the last couple of weeks.
Proposition 72 would require businesses with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance to their employees, or pay a fee for those employees into a state-run plan. Opponents said passage could force some businesses into bankruptcy or prompt them to leave the state; proponents said passage would ease the financial burdens on emergency rooms and public health programs to which uninsured workers often turn for health care.
Supermarket companies have varying opinions on the measure, Peter Larkin, president of the California Grocers Association here, told SN, "and CGA has not taken a position because there is no consensus."
"Some companies that pay health insurance feel passage would level the playing field among all employers, while others who pay insurance are concerned about the state possibly defining the standard for coverage," Larkin explained. "There are others who do not provide insurance to all employees who do not want to have it mandated, and others who are concerned with the amount of co-pays that would be required."
One of the TV spots says California taxpayers paid more than $32 million for the health care of Wal-Mart employees "who went to public clinics because the company won't provide affordable health coverage."
