03-17-06,9:25am

UPDATE: Wal-Mart offered an anemic response to our report yesterday in this Reuters story, with a spokeswoman pointing out that many of its employees were on public assistance before getting jobs at Wal-Mart. But isn’t the point of getting a job to get off public assistance? The fact remains that many of the retail giant’s employees rely on taxpayer-funded programs to get health care for themselves and their families..

A new report from the AFL-CIO shows that Wal-Mart’s refusal to pay decent wages and provide affordable health insurance is costing taxpayers millions to provide health care coverage to Wal-Mart workers.

As employer-based health care declines, many working families have been forced to rely on public health care programs to secure coverage. The result has been exploding Medicaid costs that are breaking state budgets. In many states, Wal-Mart has more employees relying on public health programs than any other company.

Three states have passed the Health Care Disclosure Act, which requires states to report which employers’ workers are relying on taxpayer-funded health care programs to cover their families. Thanks to public pressure from the AFL-CIO, unions and allies, 23 states total have issued public reports.

The reports show Wal-Mart’s workers rely on public funds for health care more than those for any other company. In at least 19 of the 23 states represented, Wal-Mart was the No. 1 employer with workers on the public health care rolls.

In Washington State, nearly 20 percent of Wal-Mart employees get their health benefits from the state. In Arizona and Maine, 10 percent do. In New Jersey, Wal-Mart is the eighth-largest employer, but it has more workers on the public health rolls than anyone else.

You can learn how Wal-Mart’s refusal to provide adequate health care coverage is costing taxpayers by downloading our new AFL-CIO report, The Wal-Mart Tax: Shifting Health Care Costs to Taxpayers (PDF).

Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer, with 1.39 million workers. It rakes in profits at a rate of more than $21,000 per minute. Its CEO earned $17.5 million in 2005 and five members of the Walton family are on the list of the 10 wealthiest Americans.

And the company has wrung at least $1 billion in economic development assistance from state and local businesses in the past 20 years.

Yet despite record profits, Wal-Mart still refuses to provide decent health care coverage for its workers. The result is millions and millions of dollars drained from state coffers as taxpayers pay health care costs for many Wal-Mart employees.

Many states are working to pass the Fair Share Health Care Act—already passed in Maryland—which would make sure large, profitable companies such as Wal-Mart pay their fair share of covering their own employees’ health care.

Our new AFL-CIO report details the impact Wal-Mart’s stingy behavior has on taxpayers and state budgets. Download the report today (PDF) The Wal Mart Tax