08 Oct 5 companies that dropped part-time employee health care

Originally  posted on https://ebn.benefitnews.com.

Just 25% of companies that offered employee health insurance made coverage available to part-time workers in 2013, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That percentage will decline further with Walmart Stores Inc.’s announcement that it is dropping health insurance for part-time employees. Walmart joins a growing list of major retailers that have done the same.

Target announced in January 2014 that it was dropping coverage for part-time employees. The company said in a blog post that less than 10% of its total employee population participated in that plan.

The world’s largest home improvement retailer said in September 2013 that it was ending coverage for 20,000 part-time employees. Employees with fewer than 30 hours a week were no longer offered limited liability medical coverage, Bloomberg reported. At the time, 5% of the company’s 34,000 employees were enrolled in that plan.

In August 2013, the retailer sent a memo to staff that it was dropping coverage for part-timers, but giving them a check for $500 to find coverage through the public exchanges.

In August 2013, the retailer announced it was cutting some employees’ hours to 29.5 hours, or just under the 30 hour threshold at which the Affordable Care Act mandates coverage be provided. Forever 21 does not provide coverage to part-time employees. In a Facebook note, the company said the decision was made “independent of the Affordable Care Act” and that the change impacted less than 1% of all U.S. store employees.

On Oct. 7, the world’s largest retail chain said it plans to stop offering health benefits to employees who work less than 30 hours a week, or about 2% of its U.S. staff.