The following summarizes news coverage of developments related to employer-based care in New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

• New Hampshire: State Senate Majority Leader Robert Clegg (R) and other lawmakers are considering several measures that would require New Hampshire to address a decline in employer-sponsored coverage that has come at the same time as an increase in public health insurance program enrollment, the Associated Press reports. Clegg is examining proposals that would minimize crowd out, such as by reducing the list of exemptions families can make to receive Medicaid coverage; enforcing an asset test; and paying a share of employers' premiums for low-income workers if it costs less than enrolling them in the state's SCHIP program, Healthy Kids. He also is researching a proposal considered by other states that would require employers with 10,000 or more workers to spend a minimum of 8% of their payroll on employee health benefits or pay the difference to help the state provide coverage under Medicaid (Love, Associated Press, 5/16).
  
  
• New Jersey: Assembly member Louis Greenwald (D) on Thursday introduced a proposal that would require employers with more than 10,000 workers to increase the level of their health care coverage or pay an extra $2.45 per employee into the state's Medicaid program, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The bill would affect Wal-Mart, which employs 12,000 people in New Jersey. Wal-Mart officials said they provide coverage for more than half of their employees.
  
  
• Pennsylvania: State Democrats have proposed legislation that would require Pennsylvania companies with 20 or more employees to publish annual reports stating how many of their workers are receiving public health insurance, the Inquirer reports. The bill is the first step toward mandating that large companies assume a larger portion of health costs, according to the Inquirer. "Wal-Mart is the most notorious abuser of Medical Assistance programs nationwide based on states that have done studies," state Rep. Mike Veon (R), a co-sponsor of the bill, said. He added, "We need to find a way to encourage or require employers to provide affordable health care insurance." A Wal-Mart spokesperson defended its health care program, saying, "It's important to note that Wal-Mart is providing access to health care that people didn't receive before they came to us." Kate Phillips, spokesperson for Gov. Edward Rendell (D), said the governor supports the proposal's intent but he has not yet taken a position (Worden, Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/16).