The
Fair Share Health Care Act
Florida is one of 30 states targeted by the AFL-CIO
as a battleground over the passage of legislation that would force
large corporations to choose between increased spending on employee
health insurance or payment of a health care tax.
The legislation is modeled on the Fair Share Health Care Act,
which was enacted in Maryland after legislators overrode the governor’s
veto. It is a small-scale version of pay-or-play proposals, that
are generally considered backdoor attempts to implement a universal
health care system.
The AFL-CIO-backed Fair Share bills require private employers
with a certain number of employees to devote a anywhere from 8
percent to 11 percent of their payroll to health insurance. Those
that don’t are compelled to pay a fee to the state.
While supporters say that they want to help workers who are
forced to enroll in Medicaid or forgo coverage altogether, Fair
Share does nothing to reduce the number of uninsured or control
the soaring costs of health care.
During the final days of the last session, the Florida Senate,
unbeknownst to most members, actually enacted a Fair Share program
through an amendment offered on the floor. AIF’s team of
lobbyists realized what the Senate had just done and worked diligently
to have the amendment reconsidered and voted down.
This year, Rep. Susan Bucher (D-West Palm Beach) and Sen. Skip
Campbell (D-Tamarac) have filed Fair Share bills. Although the
legislation is limited employers with 10,000 or more employees,
Fair Share’s supporters are well aware that targeting large
employers will not have a significant impact on the number of
working uninsured. The Fair Share game plan circulated by the
AFL-CIO warns, ‘Although large firms have historically provided
nearly universal coverage, a study by the Commonwealth Fund reports
that more than one-quarter of workers in companies with 500 or
more workers do not receive employer-based coverage.’
Large employers, however, are probably just the vanguard of
a long-term strategy to force all employers, no matter how small,
either to pay a health-insurance premiums or health-insurance
taxes.
In fact, the original version of Fair Share, was aimed at companies
with 10,000 or more employees. Fair Share legislation filed in
New Hampshire traps any businesses with at least 1,500 employees,
while Vermont lowers the threshold to 1,000.
Fair Share is a false solution to a misidentified problem. The
state won’t help people by forcing their employers to buy
health insurance they can’t afford. Fair Share won’t
decrease the number of uninsured but it will increase the number
of unemployed. |
