Wal-Mart Gets Behind Employer Mandate

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest private employer, announced in a letter to President Obama today that it will support a requirement that all businesses provide health insurance coverage as part of sweeping health reform legislation.

The endorsement of the so-called employer mandate represents a dramatic reversal for the retailing giant and a boost for the White House as it tries to inject momentum into its top domestic priority.

“We are for shared responsibility,” Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke wrote. “Not every business can make the same contributions, but everyone must make some contribution.”

The letter, which was co-signed by the heads of a prominent labor union and a left-leaning think tank, does not detail how the requirement would be structured or what sort of penalties could be imposed on companies that fail to offer insurance.

Nevertheless, today’s announcement following a meeting at the White House with chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, buttresses administration arguments that rising health costs are an integral component to the weakened economy and hamper global competitiveness.

“From a business perspective, health reform could not be more critical,” according to the letter. “Premiums are expected to rise by 20 percent in less than four years, according to research by professors at Harvard University—costing 3.5 million workers their jobs, and cutting insured workers’ average annual incomes by $1,700.”

Some employers and business groups have spoken against Democratic plans to include an employer mandate in comprehensive reform packages. Just three years ago, Wal-Mart fought efforts in states such as Maryland that would have required large companies to offer health insurance to workers.

Though it succeeded in defeating those initiatives, the company endured a raft of bad publicity and since then has moved toward covering more of its 1.4 million employees.

Duke suggested it is time for compromise.

“We are entering a critical time during which all of us who will be asked to pay for health-care reform will have to make a choice on whether to support the legislation,” according to the letter. “This choice will require employer to consider the trade off of agreeing to a coverage mandate and additional taxes versus the promise of reduced health-care cost increases.”

The letter was also signed by Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and John Podesta, chief of the Obama transition and head of the Center for American Progress.

Tomorrow Obama plans to hold a health-care town hall meeting in Annandale, Va. It will be the second event in two weeks intended to use the president's rhetorical skills to directly engage the public on the issue.

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