President Barack Obama’s ongoing endeavors towards the revamping of the healthcare system to provide near-universal coverage to Americans, has met the approval of the country’s biggest private employer - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Announcing the endorsement of the President’s widely-debated plan on Tuesday, Wal-Mart, in its letter to the President, said that it has decided to back the proposed requisite that businesses should contribute to the cost pertaining to employee health insurance.

As such, Wal-Mart is now supporting the most-contentious aspect of the plan taking shape in the Congress – that of making it obligatory for large employers to provide insurance for employees, or help pay for covering the 46 million uninsured Americans. Since Wal-Mart itself provides insurance to its employees, the company probably wants to level grounds with those companies that do not provide the benefit.

The Wal-Mart decision – which happens to be a notable break with other big companies – could have a momentous bearing on the proceedings of the healthcare reforms proposal, especially in the face of the intensifying arguments for and against the move. 

In its healthcare reforms’ approval letter - signed by Wal-Mart CEO, Mike Duke; the Service Employees International Union’s President, Andrew Stern; and Obama’s transition team head, John Podesta – Wal-Mart said: “We are for an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage.”