Opinion

What editorial writers are saying about Wal-Mart endorsing an employer mandate

The nation's largest retailer gave its blessing to forcing employers that don't offer health insurance to pay a percentage of their payroll into a federal plan.

Posted July 27, 2009.

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A sampling of editorials in newspapers across the country shows a wide range of reactions to Wal-Mart's stance, which goes against positions taken by many employer groups.

Everyday low politics: Wal-Mart buys protection by selling out its competitors

Corporate America's cheerleading for more government involvement in health care now includes Wal-Mart, that liberal paragon of social irresponsibility. The discount giant's ex-critics probably ought to be more skeptical, given that this seems to be anticompetitive special pleading in progressive drag. ... The employer-mandate endorsement falls into the ... self-interest department. ... On health care, an employer mandate will ... reduce the margins of [Wal-Mart's] rivals. This is especially true for businesses of a slightly smaller size that cannot insure on the same scale or currently don't reach the 55% of the 1.4 million Wal-Mart employees who are insured through the company. The Wall Street Journal, July 3

Wal-Mart support for mandate no "victory"

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently told the White House it supports requiring employers to provide health insurance for workers. An employer mandate has long been opposed by businesses, which prompted the giant retailer's position to make front-page headlines. Some are even viewing it as a "victory" in the raging debate on health reform. It's not. As Washington grapples with how to get more Americans insured, it should not seriously consider an employer mandate. It would not fix what's ailing this country's health-care system and would move the country in the wrong direction. ... A "victory" in the fight for meaningful health reform would be if Wal-Mart advocated a "public option" for health insurance. Des Moines (Iowa) Register, July 3

Wal-Mart joins the call for health reform

Even with Wal-Mart's support, health reform is far from a done deal. But Mr. [Michael] Duke, the giant retailer's president, got it exactly right in his letter to the White House. "Not every business can make the same contribution," he wrote, "but everyone must make some contribution." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 2

Wal-Mart's big step

This is a major step in the right direction, although figures differ as to how many Wal-Mart employees are provided health coverage under the company's existing plan. If the Obama initiative gains the support of such companies -- and if what passes Congress leads to affordable health care for the people these companies employ -- Wal-Mart will have done more for this nation than offer good quality at reasonable prices. Wal-Mart will have helped address one of America's greatest challenges. Anniston (Ala.) Star, July 13

Beware myth's hidden venom

Step carefully along the trail, where myths slither and sometimes bite. Among them lingers the one about leftists' affection for the little guy of political proverb. ... Cases in point abound. We'll start with the one involving Wal-Mart. ... Somehow, the Walton gang and liberals are embroiled in a sudden love affair, like Paris and Helen before Troy. Wal-Mart has thrown its ample weight behind a piece of the Democrats' health care proposal that would require employers who do not provide government-approved coverage to pay into a nationalized plan. Hooray for the little guy, right? Everybody gets health care. Uh, well, what about those little guys still daring to compete with mighty Wal-Mart, the mom-and-pop shops and smaller chains liberals say are chased from Main Street by the discount behemoth? Their profits, which have slowed to a trickle amid recession and were narrow to begin with, would get another snip, enough, likely, to nudge some into the red and out the door. And there sits Wal-Mart, waiting to gobble up the extra business in its ostensible benevolence. The News Virginian (Waynesboro, Va.), July 5

Health care reform

Some may insist that Wal-Mart is merely accommodating the politics of the moment and just wants a place at the negotiating table. But the decision also suggests that a company once criticized for its modest benefits and anti-union policies has seen the error of its ways. Baltimore Sun, July 2

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