Scott Walker Calls Out Wal-Mart?

Has Scott Walker joined the growing chorus of voices critical of Wal-Mart’s practice of shifting their health care costs onto taxpayers? From his recent interview with the Appleton Post-Crescent:

“There are a lot of people on BadgerCare and things like that right now who are employed in the private sector. We’d like those people to ultimately get their health insurance from their employer and not through BadgerCare, not because we kicked them off but because we make it easier for them to make that transition”

And:

“One of the reforms we did was to put a requirement in that, if you have access to health insurance from your employer, we try to have that as the first option. One of the ongoing concerns is, if you’re too generous in BadgerCare, the employers take advantage of that and drop coverage and shift people over to onto BadgerCare, which is a problem all the way around.

It’s a problem for our budget. It’s a problem philosophically. It’s a problem for other employers who are in the same industry who compete, saying, “Hey, wait a minute. We’re decent. We provide our employees with health insurance. How is it fair that now all these people who are working who are making a decent salary but who aren’t getting health care can now get it under BadgerCare?”

As per usual, Walker’s remarks are absolutely crying out for some clarity. Let’s help him out a bit.

How many people in Wisconsin working in the private sector are on Badgercare? Which employers are the worst offenders? How will he ” make it easier ” for people to shift from public to private health insurance while corporations like Wal-Mart seek to do just the opposite? And how does his rabid opposition to the Affordable Care Act figure into all of this?

How about some straight answers, Governor?

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6 thoughts on “Scott Walker Calls Out Wal-Mart?

  1. I’m thinking the Walton family might be dropping the Gov’s office a line saying “Remember all that pro-school voucher money we sent your way, with a promise for more in the future? Be a shame if something would happen to it.”

    Oh, by the way, Scotty’s DHS Secretary is going to have an appearance before Congress claiming Obamacare raises the state’s Medicaid costs, but Dennis Smith can’t tell you what those numbers are.

    Looks like Walker and his lackeys need to understand that most of us aren’t as weak-minded as their supporters, and do use this Internet thing for more than shouting.

    1. Dennis Smith: gulp, gasp, good grief!

      Besides the tea party members in Congress, who would believe anything the anti-Medicare “expert” and former Heritage Foundation stooge has to say?

  2. And certain private insurance providers will likely be out that many more paying customers. Scooter’s real concern? Follow the money.

  3. If he were truly concerned about heatlh care issues and costs, he wouldn’t have passed on creating a state health care exchange.

    And if Walmart or any other large retailer or service business decides to limit hours (and that is the modus operandi) per week to keep associates from reaching benefit eligibility, I don’t think the state can say much about it. Even as a liberal, if I still owned a business, I’d be pissed if the govt stuck their nose in my labor scheduling decisions.

  4. Ed,

    I’m not suggesting that the state can or should tell a business how to schedule their labor, and I fully agree that a state run exchange would have benefited Wisconsinites.

    I’d just like to hear the Governor clarify whatever it is he’s talking about.

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