Minimum Health Care Like Minimum Wage

If so many politicians support the concept of a minimum wage as they tell us they do, why don't more politicians support minimum health care benefits? Shouldn't workers be guaranteed not only a minimum pay, but also some form of minimum health care, especially if they work at the largest, most profitable companies who can afford it? That is what New York Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat (D) and I argue on behalf of the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN) in an op-ed in today's Baltimore Sun - and we argue that such minimum wage mandates would actually channel the venerated cost-cutting power of companies like Wal-Mart into driving down overall health care prices for everyone. Our piece is in the largest paper in the state that courageously passed legislation forcing Wal-Mart to provide better health care benefits to its workers - and our piece argues that minimum health care mandates on large employers is the next logical step. Give it a read.

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