A state Senate committee Tuesday advanced legislation that would require Minnesota to track and reveal the names of employers who freeload off taxpayers by letting their workers rely on public medical care for their health coverage.

Proponents say the legislation would provide needed accountability when workers can't afford or can't even obtain health insurance from their employer. Many of those workers instead turn to hospital emergency rooms or state-funded insurance programs, such as Minnesota Care, to cover themselves or their families.

The chief sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Becky Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, said it would provide factual information on which employers ? "who perhaps could afford to provide coverage" ? are instead shifting their costs and responsibilities onto the state's taxpayers.

Other states have discovered that large corporations ? including Wal-Mart and McDonalds ? often have hundreds of employees and their dependents on public health rolls, costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year. Hospitals and even local units of government also appear high on some lists.

Cost-shifting now a mystery
But Minnesota has no way of knowing which employers might be shifting costs onto state taxpayers, said Brad Lehto, legislative director for the Minnesota AFL-CIO. "We don't know, Gov. Pawlenty doesn't know, and you don't know," Lehto told the committee. "Perhaps only the employers know, and they're not talking."

Lourey's legislation would require the state to compile and publish a list each year of employers who have 25 or more workers or their dependents who rely on public health insurance or receive uncompensated care at hospitals. It also requires the state to calculate the cost to the state of providing such care for each employer.

Janelle Rau-Clauson, political director for SEIU Local 284, used the example of two bus drivers at First Student Transportation. The company steered both to Minnesota Care when they complained about the cost of the company's health coverage.

One full-time driver would have paid $350 a week for the company plan, Rau-Clauson said; the other took home $16 for two weeks' work after company health costs were deducted. "In one of the richest states in one of the richest countries in the world, we value international companies more than we value their workers," she said.

Noting that school districts pay First Student to provide bus service, Rau-Clauson said taxpayers wind up subsidizing the company in two ways: "We pay for them to provide a service, and we pay for Minnesota Care."

Brad Lehto (left) of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, and Bernie Hesse of UFCW Local 789 were among those testifying in favor of legislation to disclose which companies are received health care subsidies. Union Advocate photos

Seeking level playing field
The disclosure legislation would help "level the playing field" for those responsible employers, such as union grocers, who do provide quality, affordable health insurance, said Bernie Hesse, organizing director for UFCW Local 789. Stating his belief that Wal-Mart will show up at the top of the list in Minnesota, Hesse called it an issue of "corporate responsibility and accountability."

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce doesn't oppose the legislation but has concerns that it points fingers at employers, rather than exploring the broader issues of why workers choose state health insurance over their employer's plan, said Carolyn Jones, director of health care and transportation policy for the chamber. "Are employers shifting costs, or are we providing more affordable coverage than the private market provides?" she asked.

The Senate Health and Family Security Committee approved the legislation (SF828) on a voice vote and moved it to the Finance Committee. A similar bill in the House (HF870), sponsored by Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, has yet to receive a hearing.

Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly, AFL-CIO. E-mail him at advocate@mtn.org