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Digg It - Wal-Mart Target of Health Insurance Legislation
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s and world’s largest retailer, is quickly becoming Florida’s largest retailer. The chain opened 50 of its 24-hour Supercenters throughout the state during 2002 and 2003, and t According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product here are nine Wal-Mart stores in Pinellas County— two Sam’s Clubs, three Supercenters and four regular Wal-Marts. It is also among the state's largest private employers, with 77,850 employees—far more than th ; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug. Examples of combination products may in e 54,000 employed at Walt Disney World. According to Wal-Mart’s media relations hotline, there are 3,407 people employed by Wal-Mart in Pinellas County. With these large employee rosters come high costs. Wage lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together. s, overtime, benefits, taxes and other expenses make staffing and its related costs the biggest expense for almost all employers. When a company is big enough to employ tens of thousands of people, methods for here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe cutting costs are an issue management visits daily. Often management reduces employee benefits—namely health insurance—as a way to keep costs down, and until recently this practice was met with little resista d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations. Combination pro nce. But this month legislative action in both Maryland and Pennsylvania took exception to this practice. And lawmakers in 28 other states, including Florida, Connecticut, Kansas, Colorado and Tennessee, are p ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc reparing to introduce similar legislation. The face of cost savings at the biggest employers—and specifically Wal-Mart—may never be the same. On Jan. 12 the Maryland Senate voted to override a governor veto o easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi a bill requiring companies with more than 10,000 employees to pay for some health-care benefits. Dubbed the “Wal-Mart Bill,” the legislation is aimed squarely at the retail giant. It is already having a negat nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically ive effect, as Wal-Mart’s shares had their biggest decline in a month, closing lower by 83 cents, soon after the vote. Spurred into action by the AFL-CIO, which represent over nine million workers, states are and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ beginning to recognize that healthcare costs must be paid by someone. And if it’s not employers, the burden often falls on the state. "The bottom line is that our health care system is broken—but it didn't ju ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi t split open. Big companies like Wal-Mart are pulling it apart and profiting at taxpayers' expense," says John Sweeney, president of the AFL- CIO. Florida state Rep. Susan Bucher, D-Lantana, has filed a versi ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it. Following aspects would a on of the health care proposal for the spring legislative session. It closely resembles the Maryland measure. Of Wal-Mart’s costs to taxpayers she says “It might be tempting to dismiss this issue as a larger o dd to the challenges in developing combination products: Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well? Which combination prod ne of corporate welfare, or to argue that we're singling out Wal-Mart unfairly. But facts are facts: Wal-Mart does not just shift health-care costs onto taxpayers, it does so at a level well beyond that of any cts are meaningful and rational? Which therapeutic categories to select? Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients? Do combin other employer." This legislation, if enacted, would apply to private employers with 10,000 or more employees. These companies would be required to spend at least 8% of total payroll on employee health care tions increase the patient compliance? What would be the developing cost? How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen r pay the difference into a state-administered fund created to assist the uninsured. Legislation like this is a direct response to the numbers of people on Medicaid. In Florida alone, an estimated 12,300 of W t? As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel al-Mart's 91,000 employees relied on Medicaid for health care coverage in 2004. Wal- Mart’s position is that it has more employees on Medicaid simply because it is the state's largest employer. Clearly alarme ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality. Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust d by these legislative actions, Wal-Mart has lowered its monthly health insurance premiums—some as low as $11 a month—so that more entry level employees can afford its company health care insurance. Wal-Mart y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products xecutives are denouncing the campaign, saying the company provides health insurance to nearly half of its employees. Sarah Clark, Wal-Mart Spokesperson, says “More than three-fourths of Wal-Mart associates hav . As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de e health insurance.” She also commented on the general state of American health care by saying “The American people know that catering to the special interests does nothing to help the 46 million uninsured in elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements. Companies that provide selfless information through particip dividuals in this country. Now is the time for legislators across the country to work together to find real solutions to the health care challenges facing every state, every business and every working family. tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products
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