The hits for employees just keep on coming as more and more companies announce changes to their health insurance policies because of the Affordable Care Act. And retail giant Target has become the latest casualty in the months leading up to the implementation of the employer mandate, announcing Tuesday its part-time workers would have to seek health insurance through Obamacare’s marketplace.
The company announced its changes to health insurance policies for part-time workers via a notice to team members on its website. Citing the Affordable Care Act, Executive Vice President of Human Resources Jodee Kozlak said part-time workers would no longer be eligible for health insurance coverage through the company and instead must enter into the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges.
“Health care reform is transforming the benefits landscape and affecting how all employees, including Target, administer health benefits coverage,” Kozlak said in the web posting. “Our decision to discontinue this benefit comes after careful consideration of the impact to our stores’ part-time team members and to Target, the new options available for our part-time team, and the historically low number of team numbers who elected to enroll in the part-time plan.”
Less than 10 percent of Target’s employees receive coverage through part-time plans, a figure that contributed to the store’s decision to discontinue its coverage. Target plans to provide part-time workers losing its employer-based health insurance $500, and the company hired a consulting firm to assist employees with selecting a plan through Obamacare’s exchanges.
Store managers met with those working less than 32 hours per week Wednesday morning to explain the changes, a Target team member told Red Alert Politics. The company’s decision, the employee said, aimed to give Target workers the option to receive less expensive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces.
“The launch of Health Insurance Marketplaces provides new options for health care coverage that we believe our part-time team members may prefer,” Target’s web posting states. “In fact, by offering them insurance, we could actually disqualify many of them from being eligible for newly available subsidies that could reduce their overall health insurance expense.”
However, the retail giant does not plan to cut employees’ hours because of the new healthcare law, contrary to other stores including Wegmans and Trader Joe’s.
Target employed more than 361,000 people last year.
While some companies are cutting employees’ hours to avoid having to provide them with employer-based coverage, others, like Home Depot, moved its workers to Obamacare’s exchanges.
Though Target hoped its employees would find less expensive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, 77 percent of Americans who receive private health coverage attribute their increased premiums and deductibles to Obamacare.
h/t Bloomberg
