Here’s an excerpt from a letter sent to President Obama by Walmart, the SEIU, and the Center for American Progress:
We believe now is the time for action on this vital issue. We commend the leadership of elected officials who are committed to enactment of reform, and we appreciate the commitment to inclusion and transparency which has been present thus far.
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. This choice will require employers to consider the trade off of agreeing to a coverage mandate and additional taxes versus the promise of reduced health care cost increases.
Given Walmart’s history of providing poor benefits to its employees, is their support for reform really whole-hearted? Probably not. I take this letter as a sign that Walmart recognizes the broad support health reform has in America right now. Walmart has two choices: it can either be involved in policy negotiations, or have a policy imposed on it. Americans support universal health care, and it looks like employer-based health care will be the primary mechanism to deliver it. The result is that Walmart is facing a mandate to cover its employees whether it gets involved in the debate or not.
Quite frankly, though, I don’t really care about Walmart’s motives here. I’m sure that, given their choice, they’d much rather continue with the current model where many of their employees are covered by Medicaid because of their low wages and benefits. But the fact of the matter is that reform is coming, and Walmart knows it. By adding their voice to the chorus calling for health reform, Walmart is contributing that much more momentum toward getting reform implemented this year.
Of course Walmart supports it. It’s analagous to why Exxon supported a windfall profits tax. Both present costs to businesses. Large businesses, like Walmart or Exxon, can handle these costs, while other companies not as large would be forced to pass them off to consumers. This first reduces competition, and when there are fewer businesses providing a service, economics principles say that businesses will increase prices because their incentive is to make a profit.
Walmart wins. Exxon wins. Of course they support this.
What Sean2 said. There’s nothing a large company likes more than regulation.
Further, Walmart basically hates unions. If all of their workers get mandated healthcare (which already kills competition), there becomes less of a reason for the workers to unionize. Another reason for Walmart to like this.