I Had a Hunch Something Like this Would Happen

Like shopping at Wal-Mart? Enjoy the low, affordable prices?

Don't get used to them.

WASHINGTON — AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said Wednesday the legislation passed last week in Maryland to require employers to spend a percentage of their payrolls on employee health care was the "first crisp punch" in the fight for workers' rights.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Sweeney said the organization is launching similar health care campaigns in more than 30 states. Maryland's law — approved by the General Assembly over Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich's veto objection — is the first in the nation to require large employers, those with at least 10,000 workers, to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on worker health care. Wal-Mart is the only company in Maryland now affected by the law.

Look, America is the best country in the world. We want our workers and their families to be healthy. But this isn't the solution. Wal-Mart isn't just going to shoulder those extra costs, they're going to raise prices. So everyone who shops there- from college kids without a ton of money (like me) to poor families whose lives are made a little easier by Wal-Mart's low prices- will suffer.

There has to be a better way to do this. I'm by no means a health care expert, but it seems like the way health care is managed is flawed. Isn't there a better way? Tax breaks for people who pay for their own insurance? A way to reform the system without punishing big businesses?

Although I suppose there is one good thing to come out of this. If Wal-Mart is being hounded on this bill everywhere, maybe they'll still build the distribution center in Maryland. The area they are considering really needs the jobs.