HEALTHCARE HEARING SET FOR TOMORROW GENERATES HEAVY RESPONSE
-- List of attendees and speakers grows --
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2006
Contact: Michael B. Kaplowitz
Tel: (914) 995-2848 or (914) 924-3404 cell
Westchester County Legislator Michael B. Kaplowitz (D-I-WF, Somers), chairman of the County Board’s Budget & Appropriations Committee, will host a joint meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, April 18th at 12noon with the Board’s Committee on Family, Health & Human Services, chaired by Legislator Judith A. Myers (D-I-WF, Larchmont) and the Committee on Public Works, Transportation, Labor & Parks, chaired by Legislator Jose I. Alvarado (D-I, Yonkers).
According to Kaplowitz, the hearing will be on a proposed state bill, “Fair Share for Healthcare”, which would require large employers in New York State to pay the full cost of health benefits for their employees.
The response to the meeting announcement has been so great, it has brought out the big guns. Union leaders such as Paul Ryan, President of the Westchester/Putnam AFL-CIO Central Labor Body, will be testifying.
Patrick Welsh, chair of the Westchester-Putnam County chapter of the Working Families Party, is also scheduled to testify.
Paul Vitale, Director of Government & Community Relations for the Westchester Business Council, will testify against the bill.
A couple of state lawmakers who co-sponsored the bill also plan on attending.
By passing this legislation, New York would be following the likes of Maryland and other states that have taken action on this national hot-button issue.
“With the anticipated arrival of Wal-Mart in White Plains, the proposed bill is timely,” said Kaplowitz.
The bipartisan state bill is sponsored by Richard Gottfried (D/WFP-Manhattan) and a majority of the State Assembly, and Nicholas Spano (R/WFP-Westchester) in the State Senate, and is backed by a large coalition of businesses, labor unions, and health and consumer groups led by the Working Families Party.
“No employee of a hugely profitable multi-billion dollar company like Wal-Mart or Pizza Hut should be forced to go without medical care or be forced to resort to Medicaid,” said Patrick Welsh, chair of the Westchester-Putnam County chapter of the Working Families Party.
Nearly three million New Yorkers lack any health insurance. Wal-Mart alone has an estimated 3,000 workers (plus their dependents) enrolled in public health programs such as Medicaid, costing taxpayers more than $20 million, and 10,000 workers with no insurance, costing the public another $10-15 million.
“It is time to shift the cost of healthcare from the taxpayer to the shareholder,” said Kaplowitz. “Corporate giants such as Wal-Mart should realize that providing healthcare for their employees is simply the cost of doing business.”
County Legislator Thomas J. Abinanti (D-I-WF, Greenburgh), former chair of the County Board’s Health Committee and currently a member of both the Committees on Budget & Appropriations and Family, Health & Human Services, stated that “it should be the responsibility of these big businesses, not the taxpaying public, to bare the cost of health benefits for these workers.”
Abinanti strongly supports the bill.
But not everyone does. Last week, the Employment Policies Institute - a front group for fast food corporations like McDonald's – launched an attack on the Fair Share for Health Care Act.
“Of course these large companies like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart oppose the bill, they increase their profit margins by skimping on health care coverage for their workers,” Kaplowitz stated.
“Ultimately, this practice imposes great costs on the public. For example, the rising cost of public health programs, especially Medicaid, is an enormous financial strain on state and county government, and a major cause of the growing property-tax burden.”
The hearing will take place on Tuesday, April 18th at 12noon at the Board’s Offices –
148 Martine Avenue, 8th floor, White Plains.
The press and public are encouraged to attend.
