HARRISBURG, Pa. - Almost one in six Wal-Mart employees in Pennsylvania was enrolled in the state's health care program for the poor and disabled last year, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Wal-Mart had the highest percentage of employees on Medicaid out of the state's 10 largest private-sector employers, according to data provided to The Philadelphia Inquirer by the state Department of Public Welfare.
The company, which is Pennsylvania's largest private-sector employer, had 7,577 of its 48,000 employees, or nearly 16 percent, on Medicaid, according to the figures. The annual cost to the state was $15 million, the newspaper said.
Wow. Nearly one in six Wal-Mart employees on Medicaid. That sounds bad, except...
According to these figures there were over 46,000,000 citizens in this country who received medical benefits through Medicaid in 2001 (the last year for which this information is available). There are over 295,000,000 men, women and children living in the United States. Doing a little math shows us that about 15.6% of Americans are using Medicaid. Using the figures quoted in this article, 15.7% of Wal-Mart employees in Pennsylvania are on Medicaid.
Basically, your average Wal-Mart employee in Pennsylvania is no more likely to be on Medicaid than your average American.
Funny how the media doesn't report that fact.