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In the national debate
over what to do about the growing number of working
people with little or no health insurance, no other
company may be taking more heat than the country's
largest employer,
Wal-Mart Stores.
The company, despite its
popularity with consumers, has grown accustomed to
being accused of crushing Main Street merchants with
its sprawling stores and low prices and of driving
down wages for workers across the retail industry.
And more than a million former and current female
Wal-Mart employees are part of a sex discrimination
lawsuit that the company is fighting.
Now, Wal-Mart finds
itself under attack for what critics see as its
miserly approach to employee health care, which they
say is forcing too many of its workers and their
families into state insurance programs or making
them rely on charity care by hospitals.
Wal-Mart vigorously
defends its health care policies, saying it offers
affordable coverage for all employees. |
