NYT: Wal-Mart Looms Over 2 Bills to Improve Worker Health Care

The national effort to force Wal-Mart and other employers to provide better health care coverage came to Albany [NY] on Tuesday, with legislators of both parties promoting bills that would require many businesses to provide insurance for some 450,000 workers who now lack it.

The move comes after similar legislation passed in Maryland in January, though that was aimed more narrowly at prodding Wal-Mart. The company has long been accused of offering meager benefits, forcing many employees to seek health care from state programs.

With health care costs soaring for states and the ranks of the uninsured rising, Maryland's law opened the floodgates, with similar bills emerging in more than 20 states.