Ohio Subsidizes Walmart with Approximately $68.5 million Each Year from Wal-Mart Watch

http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/walmart_workers_in_ohio_on_medicaid/

Yesterday the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released a report ranking major employers by their employees' reliance upon various state run programs like Medicaid and food stamps. With health care reform on the front burner of the American political agenda, this is obviously a pretty important report. It shows that large companies are shirking their responsibilities and forcing tax payers to subsidize them, and guess who was at the top of the list in Ohio.

That's right, Walmart has more than 15,000 employees and their dependents in Ohio on Medicaid, costing state taxpayers $68 million a year. Walmart has higher Medicaid and food stamp numbers than any other company on the report.

If you read this blog regularly, you know that Walmart is attempting to convince the American people that their company is a positive force when it comes to health care. They've run ads, started programs, attempted to open health clinics in their stores, and more. But stories like this throw Walmart's credibility in to question. How can we trust a company on health care when it fails to cover nearly half of its own employees? How can we trust a company on health care when they are slashing benefits for their own employees? How can we trust a company on health care when they claim that only 2.6% of their workforce in America relies on Medicaid when, in Ohio, the number appears to be so much higher? If Walmart really believes in health care reform, they need to lead by example. If Walmart really believes in health care reform, they need to offer quality affordable health care to their workers.