R.I. Senate expands study of large firms<br> that don’t providing health insurance

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Senate has approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Charles J. Levesque, D-Portsmouth, to require state officials to identify any employers who have more than 50 workers, or their spouses or dependents, enrolled in public health insurance programs for the poor.
The measure, S-0644, builds on a bill enacted last year, also sponsored by Levesque, to require the R.I. Department of Human Services to identify the employers with 250 or more people enrolled in such programs, to determine which large companies are leaving their employees without affordable health insurance.
“Our study so far has shown us largely what we expected, that there are some large corporations in our state that are dropping the ball,” said Levesque. “I understand that smaller companies struggle under rising health care costs, but large ones can do better.”
A report complied this year showed that thousands of employed Rhode Islanders rely on state-sponsored insurance programs, costing taxpayers $10 million. Among the employers listed were Bank of America, Citizens Financial Group, the City of Providence and Wal-Mart.