Wal-Mart children top list of PeachCare recipients

<p>Wal-Mart heads the list of companies with employees who have children enrolled in Georgias PeachCare health insurance program, with 14 times the number as the second-leading company.</p><p>A state survey found that 10,261 children who had Wal-Mart employees for parents participated in September 2002 in the state program to provide health insurance to children whose families otherwise cannot afford it.</p><p>Publix workers had 734 children enrolled in PeachCare.</p><p>A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company does not encourage employees to use state insurance plans for children or Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor.</p><p>We offer affordable health coverage to all of our associates, both full time and part time, spokesman Dan Fogleman said.</p><p>The PeachCare employer listings appeared in an internal memo within the state Department of Community Health, which did not release them publicly. But the results surfaced recently in an AFL-CIO report about Wal-Mart benefits.</p><p>The retail chain, which had about 42,000 workers in Georgia in 2002, had about one child in the health care program for every four employees. The ratio for Publix was one for every 22 employees.</p><p>For the No. 3 and No. 4 employers on the list, carpet manufacturers Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries respectively, the ratios were one child for every 30 workers for Shaw and one for every 26 for Mohawk.</p><p>Cindia Cameron, organizing director for 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women, said most workers who make $7 to $8 an hour cant afford health insurance.</p><p>When a very wealthy employer passes off to taxpayers what is rightfully a labor force cost, thats a serious public policy problem, Cameron said.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: Constitution</p>

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