Wal-Mart and Maryland

I just read this article in the WaPo on the latest troubles Wal-Mart faces, this time, in Maryland.

Maryland lawmakers yesterday approved legislation that would effectively require Wal-Mart to boost spending on health care, a direct legislative thrust against a corporate giant that is already on the defensive on many fronts nationwide.
...
Lawmakers said they did not set out to target only Wal-Mart when they drafted a bill requiring organizations with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits -- or put the money directly into the state's health program for the poor.

I've never been on the books side of a company, but 8% doesn't seem like a large amount, especially for a multi-multi-multi billion dollar MNC like Wal-Mart. I wonder how far along after a company grows that it starts to look closer at profit margins than keeping their workers healthy and happy. I wonder how large Wal-Mart was when it made some of the decisions it did, behind the scenes, to get where it is now.

But was this bill targeted solely at Wal-Mart? Not completely, but basically, yes.

Johns Hopkins University, Giant Food and defense contractor Northop Grumman Corp. have enough employees to fall under the bill's requirements. But all meet the 8 percent threshold for for-profit employers or the 6 percent mandated for nonprofits.

It was unclear yesterday exactly how far Wal-Mart is from the 8 percent mark.

Lawmakers said the company told them a year ago that it spent about 5 percent of its payroll on health benefits, which would mean an investment of roughly $8 million. Hurst, the company spokesman, said yesterday that the figure is 7 to 8 percent.

Hurst said about 80 percent of Wal-Mart workers in Maryland are eligible for benefits. Of those, he said, more than 52 percent have enrolled in health care options the company provides.

Middleton, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, said he hoped that, faced with the choice, Wal-Mart would spend the money on its own employees rather than contribute to the state Medicaid program.

"I think they would be crazy not to," he said. "This is an incentive to invest in their health care."

Let's see just how crazy they are.