Maryland forces WalMart to pay more for health care

Yesterday, the Maryland legislature overrode the governor's veto and passed a bill forcing WalMart (or any company with 10,000 or more employees) to dedicate at least 8% of sales to employee healthcare. They can do this by either directly paying a portion of their healthcare benefits or by sending a check to the state to help cover Medicaid costs.

This shines a light on the way many companies who pay small salaries use state Medicaid plans to subsidize their employee's healthcare. I'm not saying this is bad by any means, I'm saying that this is a shame.

I am not sure that the Maryland law is the right answer because it doesn't attack the root of the problem - it only attacks a the symptom of businesses declining to provide affordable health insurance for their employees. I can't necessarily blame the companies who are trying to compete either. The good that may come of this is, that by putting pressure on big business, big business may start lobbying for national health care.