Congressional Democrats are demanding that private companies to provide health coverage, or else. Specifically being targeted is low-cost retailer, Wal-Mart. Long the ire of liberals and democrats, nearly 14% of Wal-Mart employees choose to not pay for group health insurance through the company. They either tag along on the policy of a spouse, or rely on taxpayer funded care.

Several congressional Democrats introduced a bill yesterday that would force states to report the names of companies that have 50 or more employees who receive government-funded health care, an effort to pressure Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in particular to improve employee health coverage.

In introducing the Health Care Accountability Act, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Jon S. Corzine (D-N.J.) said they are concerned that large employers such as Wal-Mart are transferring responsibility for health care to government-funded programs such as Medicaid.

So they want companies held accountable for their employees health coverage (or lack thereof), in what amounts to a huge invasion of privacy and government meddling. And it's not the employers who are transferring responsibility to the government, it's the employees. They are electing to rely on government hand-outs, rather than paying their own way. Look I can either choose to drink from the taxpayer funded water fountain, or I can pay $2 for chilled bottled water from the Coke machine. But just because the government gives away water for "free", doesn't mean they can demand that Coca-Cola start giving away water because the lines at the water fountain are too long.

If the government doesn't want people signing up for their hand-outs (they actually advertise the unpopular programs), they should shut them down.

Wal-Mart said it provides health insurance to more than 568,000 of its employees. About 14 percent of its workers have no coverage. The rest rely on health care coverage from another source, such as a spouse or government program.

Some of the uninsured "may turn to state Medicaid programs which were designed to provide medical coverage at very low cost to relatively low-income residents, at better premiums and related costs than even Wal-Mart can negotiate," [Wal-Mart Spokesman Nate Hurst] said.

Once again, this is a failure of socialism. Giving away something for "free" always spikes the demand. We're seeing the same thing happen with "free" prescription drugs. When you insist on giving away "free" stuff, don't complain when people actually take it.