Democrats Play The Blame Game

New Jersey spends about $10 billion a year on Medicaid, FamilyCare and charity care for low income people. The state has taken on the responsibility for these expenses, but for some reason Democrats want taxpayers to know where the working enrollees are employed.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Monday signed into law a bill requiring the state to release an annual report on companies that have at least 50 employees enrolled in the state's FamilyCare or Medicaid programs.

The annual state report is to include the employer's name, the number of its FamilyCare enrollees and Medicaid recipients, the number of its employee spouses and dependents, whether the company provides health insurance and the cost to the state for providing health care to the employer's workers and families.

What’s the point? Obviously the people enrolled in state health insurance programs are either not working or work in low paying full-time or part-time jobs. What difference does it make where they work and if they are employed by a firm with 50 or more employees?

Bill sponsor Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, has said the law will let the public know which companies are "putting more pressure on an already strained system" and making it tougher for the state to provide basic health care.

What logic. Why stop at healthcare expenses? The state subsidizes a myriad of expenses for low income people - housing, food, education, etc. Following that logic, if companies are responsible for their employees, plus dependents healthcare, employers are then also responsible for all of their employees’ expenses. Of course they're not responsible for any of their employees' expenses and most people understand that.

Employers offer jobs where salary plus fringe benefits equals total compensation. Job seekers are free to accept or reject any offer. It is not the employer’s job to figure out if the compensation offered is sufficient to cover a person’s living expenses. That’s the responsibility of the job seeker.

Lawmakers have created the programs that are straining state resources. It’s time they took responsibility for the financial mess they have created instead of trying to pin the blame on business and other taxpayers.