Taxpayers Subsidize Walmart

The state of Georgia found “more than 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees were in the state’s health program for children at an annual cost of nearly $10 million to taxpayers.” In California, taxpayers spend $32 million a year providing health care to Wal-Mart workers. And a hospital in North Carolina reports 31 percent of patients who were Wal-Mart employees were on state-funded Medicaid, while an additional 16 percent had no insurance whatsoever. The problem: Many Wal-Mart employees are unable to pay the company’s exorbitant monthly premiums. Full-time employees making the $8-an-hour cashier’s wage pull in about $1,200 a month, making the $264 a month Wal-Mart demands for family coverage out of reach. Also, Wal-Mart forces employees who work full time to wait six months for insurance; part-time workers must wait two years. “Because of turnover, some employees never work long enough to become eligible.”

And they want to tell you how great they are for the local economies where they locate.