Target Joins Growing Number Of Companies Dropping Health Insurance For Part-Timers

22 Jan, 2014 by William Teach

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More victims of Obama’s signature legislation, aided and abetted by most Democrats

(Bloomberg) Target Corp. (TGT) said it will end health insurance for part-time employees, joining Trader Joe’s Co., Home Depot Inc. and other retailers that have scaled back benefits in response to changes from Obamacare.

About 10 percent of Target’s part-time employees, defined as those working fewer than 30 hours a week, use the company’s health plans now, according to an announcement posted on the Minneapolis-based company’s website. Target said it would pay $500 to part-timers losing coverage and a consulting firm will help workers sign up for new Obamacare plans.

$500 is what, no more than two months of premiums on the Obamacare Exchanges, at best? Anyhow, why would Target and other companies do this?

The U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the largest regulatory overhaul of health care since the 1960s, creating a system of penalties and rewards to encourage people to obtain medical insurance. The law known as Obamacare doesn’t require most companies to cover part-time workers, and offering them health plans may disqualify those people from subsidies in new government-run insurance exchanges that opened in October.

Part-time employees have low enrollment rates for insurance via their company because those plans tend to be rather expensive. So, not that many people will be affected. That said, Obamacare encourages, heck, it incents, companies to drop health insurance offerings for part-timers, that way the part-timers will be eligible for taxpayer funded subsidies. In fact, the companies can be on the receiving end of a massive fine/tax if any employee obtains insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, and the ones most likely to do that would be part-timers.

It also incents companies to move employees to part-time. So, not only will we hear about more and more companies dropping their health insurance offerings overall during 2014, along with companies seeing their plans cancelled and replacing them with plans that are more expensive, particularly for the deductibles, we will see companies moving more employees to part-time hours as 2015 and the (illegally delayed) employer mandate. Welcome to the Obama/Democrat economy. It’s no wonder they want to raise the minimum wage: people will be working fewer hours thanks to their own policies.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.