Insult to injury

This quote from Patti Lorbecki, a co-owner of Piggly Wiggly in Jefferson, says it all. It is from a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about the bill to require large profitable companies like Walmart to pay for part of the costs of having their employees in state health care programs.

"I certainly want to pay for our employees' health care benefits, but I'll be darned if I have to pay for Wal-Mart's, too," said Lorbecki. "Why should small-business people have to foot the bill for someone who is making millions and millions in profit?" she asked.

Why indeed. These small business are already struggling to compete with Walmart and now they must help Walmart put them out of business by paying taxes that subsidize Walmarts low prices.

The article also contained some sobering statistics on health care overall in our country.

• The estimated number of people without health insurance has increased by 6 million since 2000, rising to 45.8 million, or more than one in seven people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• The percentage of companies that offer health benefits - the primary source of insurance for people under 65 - fell to 60% last year from 69% in 2000, according to an annual survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which does health policy research.
• The number of people who get health insurance through their employer dropped by 3.7 million from 2000 to 2004 while the population increased by 11.6 million.
• The number of people insured through Medicaid and affiliated programs rose to 37.5 million, or 12.9% of the population.

Maybe the Clinton's were on to something with universal health care. Yes, they botched the delivery of the proposal big time but the idea is still sorely needed in this country and it is time to look at again.