Maybe you’ve read that Wal-Mart announced recently that it is ending health coverage for those of their workers who are working 30 hours or less per week. The plan, effective January 1st affects 2% of Wal-Mart’s 1.4 million workforce. They’re not alone, Target and Home Depot made similar announcements a few months ago. The Affordable Care Act mandates companies to provide health care for those working over 30 hours. Those who work less than 30 hours can it seems qualify for federal premium subsidies, or if their state allows it, enroll in Medicaid, a practice which leads critics to say that employers are dumping their employees on the government. There are two ironies at work here. The first is minor, the announcement follows another a few days before about Wal-Mart opening health clinics in some of its store also around the first of the year. The other goes deeper, it reflects the fact that corporations which have been so vocal against the Affordable Care Act, have become so adept at using it, and at doing the very thing they claim was wrong with it—that is to swell those being helped by government. One could say the Evil Empire has multiplied, but I doubt that would be helpful. Instead one could just recognize that Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot et al. are perfect examples of a corporate culture gone awry, one which places its own interests above those of the nation.
Danielle Levy
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Data–Raising The Bar
We collect lots of data, but we don’t always collect the data we need. We, for example, don’t know how many children with disabilities are out of school in the world, nor do we know how many women die in childbirth in the poorest countries. We estimate, but often that is not good enough to make the right decision or design good programs. What is being called a high level group has been appointed by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon to not only fill in the blanks in the data we need but also to ensure that data can have quality and usability. The group is to come up with ideas of how to make this happen and is bringing together academics, activists, those who manage data for governments and those who put together global numbers. The idea is to bridge the old and new worlds of data, that means linking government statisticians with Silicon Valley developers. In some quarters this is being thought of as a data revolution. All the groups involved have something to contribute to increase the quantity of data so that the holes where data is needed and is not now being collected can be filled, as well as forge the sought after quality and usability so that in the end the data can be put to work to improve people’s lives.
Good ideas don’t always live up to their potential, let’s hope this one does.