Today’s Baltimore Sun featured the following letter to the editor from Maryland Chamber Chairman Terry Neimeyer, Chairman and CEO of KCI Technologies.

It’s time to bury the Wal-Mart law

Now dead and buried by U.S. District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz’s ruling, the Wal-Mart bill deserves no special celebration (“Wal-Mart bill is celebrated, despite ruling,” July 21).

Instead, we should be celebrating the judicial reinforcement of the federal firewall against state efforts to dictate the amount and type of fringe benefits offered by employers.

The Maryland Chamber of Commerce was an early and steadfast opponent of the bill and the first group to publicly identify the flaw that proved to be its downfall: its violation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Unfortunately, the General Assembly did not listen to the expert advice we obtained and provided to every member.

Thankfully, the Wal-Mart law cannot be fixed, tweaked or brought back to life.

A legislature serious about addressing access to health care should start by assisting small businesses, who employ most of the state’s uninsured.

True solutions to this problem will include meaningful medical liability reform, increased competition in the small group insurance market and promoting consumer-driven health care alternatives.

Terry F. Neimeyer
Annapolis