Time to Move out of Maryland

Once again, the Maryland General Assembly has found a way to make Maryland completely unappealing to large businesses. Legislation is currently in the works to force employers with 10,000 or more Maryland employees "to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on employee health care or pay the difference into the state’s Medicaid fund."

Wal-Mart is the lightening rod of this issue. It's a well known fact that Wal-Mart has been cited with numerous workplace violations including overtime violations and hiring illegal immigrants. So clearly, Wal-Mart is no Saint when it comes to employee practices. But Wal-Mart (which is currently the only business in Maryland that would fit the criteria of this legislation) provides health benefits, which according to some Maryland lawmakers, is too expensive for the Wal-Mart employees to buy. So now Maryland is in the business of setting health benefit rates for local businesses.

Bottom line here is that this act of putting the burdon of affordable health insurance on employers is ridiculous. Health care benefits are a perk of the job - they aren't a requirement, and businesses shouldn't have to provide them if they don't feel it's in their strategic interest.