Follow the Leader 5/23/2006

From Follow the Leader:

WFP Fires Back

Pointing out that the Employment Policies Institute is a think tank funded by the restaurant industry, the Working Families Party has sent me a response to this item. In brief, here it is directly from their release:

1. Rhetoric: The Fair Share for Health Care bill will cost nearly 100,000 jobs.

Reality: This is exactly the argument that was made about minimum wage; it wasn't true then, and it's not true now...

2. Rhetoric: Fair Share for Health Care will not cover 83% of New York's uninsured.

Reality: The legislation does not purport to be a comprehensive solution to the crisis of New York’s uninsured. But it is a significant and practical first step that will cover more than 400,000 New Yorkers who work at large firms but are currently uninsured, as well as another 193,000 who work for large firms but receive health care through Medicaid and Family Health Plus.

3. Rhetoric: The bill makes health care more expensive for New York employers.

Reality: The bill makes health care less expensive for employers already providing decent, affordable benefits...

4. Rhetoric: The Fair Share bill will hurt New York's business climate.

Reality: The Fair Share bill will benefit New York businesses by:

- Reducing the burden on state and local taxpayers by nearly $1 billion annually as by shifting health care costs away from taxpayer-subsidized programs like Medicaid and back to employers who have tried to game the system by shifting these costs.

- Providing a level playing field for responsible local businesses that struggle to compete with multi-billion dollar corporations like Wal-Mart that do not offer decent, affordable benefits to their workers.

- Reducing the cost of health care for responsible employers.