Thursday, January 24, 2008

RI taxpayers pay $5M for corps.' insurance

Pat Crowley has a strong post up at RI's Future, pointing to a state report to indicate how Rhode Island taxpayers are paying more than $5 million (plus about $6M from the feds) to pay for health insurance for workers at some of the state's biggest and more profitable corporations:

As I was driving through Providence today, I heard Our Governor on the Helen Glover “Show” getting the facts wrong again about the State he has run for six years but apparently bears no responsibility for mismanaging (personal responsibility and all). Helen was guffawing about how silly it is to think that the State should pay people not to work – the much maligned but little understood FIP program. That got me thinking…. I wonder if she knows, or if the Governor knows, how much we taxpayers give corporations to insure their workers since they are too cheap to do it themselves. ....

$5,127,098

Where is that money going, you might ask….

It is going to Bank of America, and their 382 employees on RIte Care / Rite Share/ or Medicaid. It is going to the 610 employees of Citizens Bank that are getting our taxes. It is only 310 folks at CVS (plastic bag, anyone) but 500 Wal Mart employees are piad for by the State. In total more than 4,000 workers for these corporations get us to pay for the health insurance. That, my dear reader, is corporate welfare.

You can find the full report at this link.

Budget | Governor Donald L. Carcieri | Healthcare | Social issues

1/24/2008 6:03:20 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [7] |
Related posts:
RI called 2nd most distressed state
Budget vote slated for this afternoon
Budget crisis sparks arts cuts at URI
RI DOT's Michael Lewis on Newsmakers
Carcieri responds to attack ads
Can RI gets its econ-development act together?

Thursday, January 24, 2008 7:46:42 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

The chutzpah of all you commie scum is oft times astonishing. YOU have created these socialist programs that extend far into the middle class over the governor's veto then you blame HIM for them! He proposed last year that Rite Care income limits be tightened. The marxist GA refused. The same drama will play out this year. Progressives-the biggest bitchers in the world but "zero" solutions. Other than the always effective (LOL) TALK TO THE UNIONS!!!!!

Mike

Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:41:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

you present crowley's assertions as gospel-good journalism there-as long as you tip a few with someone,i guess the accuracy of what he says loses importance-does crowley have documentation he is willing to present publicly to support his numbers?considering some of his past antics and vile accusations about various people he merits skepticism to say the least-and if his numbers are correct,do they reflect employee numbers or total number of people covered,such as spouses and children-that would make quite a difference in terms of percentage of employees covered-and where did crowley get his information-from the companies named?the state?it seems like matt jerzyk,david segal, pat crowley,and steven brown all get a free back rub on your blog no matter what they say

joe

Friday, January 25, 2008 6:10:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Hi Joe: Ian's post has the links.

Pat Crowley

Friday, January 25, 2008 8:50:42 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

It's quite true Joe that the workers get free health care from the taxpayers. What scumsucker Crowley DOESN'T tell you is that the much reviled "Enron Don" has tried to STOP this by tightening eligibility. Who stopped the governor? The NEA backed "progressives" in the GA!
Crowley's chutzpah reminds me of the kid who killed his parents and cried for sympathy because he's an orphan.

Mike

Friday, January 25, 2008 11:00:51 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Mike, it tells us a lot about your character that when presented with information you dislike (from a state report), you respond by calling people names.

Ian

Friday, January 25, 2008 1:32:36 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

I'm not sure Pat was accurately interpreting the data. Pat was including dependents. The actual number of actual corp employees is a much lower number. For example; total number of Bank of America employees is 112. Further, and I know it's not a corp, Pat forgot to include City of Providence, which is 92.

What about changing state pension system to a 401k type plan?

JoeO

Friday, January 25, 2008 2:31:02 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

I'm not sure I understand Pat's data (and I'd endorse 401ks for state workers, too), but I've been on the receiving end of many a Mike tirade. He makes me proud to be a progressive.

Rhody

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