Health insurance for small biz employees
Another good idea from a Western Democrat. Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana is proposing to use part of a new, voter approved, cigarrette tax to help small businesses provide health insurance coverage to their employees. In a state where this is a real problem, it looks like Schweitzer and other Dems came up with a smart solution.
Surveys have found 19 percent of Montana's roughly 1 million residents lack health insurance; just over half of the uninsured work in businesses with 10 or fewer employees; and cost is the leading reason small businesses do not offer insurance.The insurance bill, sponsored by Rep. Dave Wanzenried, D-Missoula, drew a string of supporters at Thursday's hearing, among them Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Montana Chamber of Commerce and the Montana Council for Maternal and Child Health.
Lone opponent J.R. Chapman of Missoula, who sells insurance, called the bill "a narcotic" that would mask problems, not address them.
"What are we subsidizing here?" Chapman asked. "Why do we want to subsidize the failure to provide group insurance?"
Emmett O'Connell | February 18, 2005 | Comment on This Post (10 so far) |
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Another great idea (via Left in the West) that should get some more press is that of Montana Dem Sen Ken Toole (D-Helena) by which the state of Montana will tax the gross revenues of large Walmart-type operations to the the extent that they fail to pay their employees a living wage. Employees of such stores who fall below the poverty line recieve payments from the state, which foots the bill for such welfare benefits as Medicaid, creating a situation by which Montana taxpayers are forced to subsidize Walmart's labor costs.
Keep up the good fight, Montana Dems.
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