The cost of care
As the strike by 10,700 Boston-area janitors seeking health benefits and steady full-time employment drags on (see yesterday?s WIT), a report commissioned by the Boston Globe has shown that taxpayers are subsidizing the low labor costs of the cleaning companies represented by the Maintenance Contractors of New England (MCNE). The figures---based on independent doctoral research by a University of California at Berkeley graduate student---show that 8,000 low-paid area janitors who receive inadequate or no health insurance from the private companies who employ them, are dependent on publicly funded health care. The annual cost to Massachusetts and national taxpayers of this MassHealth Medicaid coverage for janitors and their families who would likely be unable to otherwise afford medical care, is over $6 million---money that translates into increased profit margins for cleaning companies.
See "The cost of care", KIMBERLY BLANTON, The Boston Globe, October 16, 2002