A story appearing in the Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal today saying that fast food giant McDonalds is planning on dropping it’s health care coverage for employees because of requirements tied to the new health care bill:

While many restaurants don’t offer health coverage, McDonald’s provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.

Last week, a senior McDonald’s official informed the Department of Health and Human Services that the restaurant chain’s insurer won’t meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 80% to 85% of its premium revenue on medical care.

But now McDonalds is denying this report:

McDonald’s denies reports it’s considering dropping health care coverage for some employees in response to a provision of the health care overhaul.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing a memo from McDonald’s to federal officials, that McDonald’s has warned regulators it could drop its plan for some 30,000 workers unless the government waives a new requirement in the health care overhaul.

The company says in a statement Thursday it has been speaking with federal agencies to understand the law.

This is rather interesting and if turns out the WSJ fabricated the story, then Murdoch should have Big Macs stuffed in every orifice.