Wal-Mart Supports Health Care Employer Mandate
(AP)
"We are for shared responsibility," Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke said in a letter sent to President Obama on Tuesday. "Not every business can make the same contribution, but everyone must make some contribution."
The letter was also signed by Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and John Podesta, chief executive of the liberal group the Center for American Progress, who served as the head of Mr. Obama's presidential transition team.
An employer mandate - also referred to as "pay or play" - would require employers to either provide "meaningful" coverage for their workers or contribute to a public fund to cover the uninsured. There is debate over whether a mandate would help reduce the costs the government will take on to ensure universal access to health care or simply more deeply entrench the United States in an employer-based health care system.
