Fair Share Health Care Act

Maryland Senate Bill 790, known as the Fair Share Health Care Act, also nicknamed the "Wal-Mart Bill", was a legislative act passed in the state of Maryland in 2005. The act would have required for-profit employers with more than 10,000 workers in the state of Maryland to spend at least 8% of their payroll on employee health benefits or make a contribution to the state's insurance program for the poor. Non-profit employers were required to do the same, but with a lower, 6% benchmark.

Healthcare in the United States
Government health programs
Private health coverage
Health care reform law
State level reform
  • Dirigo Health (Maine)
  • Massachusetts health care reform
  • Oregon Health Plan
  • SustiNet (Connecticut)
  • Vermont health care reform
Municipal health coverage

The Maryland legislature initially passed the bill on April 5, 2005. Though its supporters contended that it did not single out Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart was the only private, for-profit employer in the state that would have been affected.

The bill was vetoed by then-Governor Robert L. Ehrlich On January 12, 2006, the Senate decided to override Ehrlich's veto, thereby passing the act into law.

On July 18, 2006, federal judge J. Frederick Motz struck down the law as preempted by ERISA. On January 17, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the decision.

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