Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the United States, will stop offering health coverage to new part-time workers, The Washington Post recently reported.
A company spokesman noted the business has provided benefits for part-timers since 1996, and Wal-Mart was among the supporters of an employer mandate requiring companies to provide insurance. Given these facts, the company's announcement surprised some.
Rising healthcare costs are leading many businesses to rethink their benefits and coverage. Some are adopting new approaches, requiring employees to pay more of the cost or scrapping healthcare entirely to lower expenses.
The news source notes the recent Affordable Care Act, while supporting part-time workers through subsidized coverage on an individual basis, does not encourage employers to take a hand in healthcare for them the way it does for full-time employees.
One difficulty is defining full-time and part-time workers, since the Act's definition specifies those who work 30 hours per week or more are full-time employees. This is difficult to interpret for people whose work hours vary. The Internal Revenue Service noted strict adherence to the letter of that requirement could cause employees to shift between full-time and part-time from month to month, frustrating employers and workers alike.
According to the Kaiser Family Health Foundation's most recent data, only 16 percent of employers offer health insurance to part-time employees. Among larger companies, however, 42 percent provide health coverage. If others follow in Wal-Mart's footsteps, that number may shrink.
