Last week, the House passed legislation to change the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The goal was to reduce the number of small businesses that would be financially burdened by having to provide health insurance to workers.
Under current health care law, an employer with 50 or more workers must provide insurance to full-time employees, defined as those who work 30 or more hours per week, or pay a penalty. The new legislation defines full-time workers as those who work 40 hours a week.
The employer mandate for firms with 50 to 99 workers was originally scheduled to go into effect in 2014, but has been repeatedly delayed and is now scheduled to go into effect in October 2016.
Needs Six Democrats
The president has said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk, and it’s still uncertain whether the bill’s proponents can find 60 votes in the Senate to override a filibuster from Democrats. The bill would need the votes of six Democrats, assuming every Republican voted for it, but thus far only two, Sen. Joe Donnelly (D–Ind.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have signaled support for overturning the 30-hour definition.
“Opponents of the Affordable Care Act want to try and undermine the ACA in whole in in many parts as possible, they want to keep on offering serial attacks on the ACA,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would cost around 1 million people their employer coverage, and cost the government $46 billion by 2025, as more people seek Medicaid.
Moreover, a 40-hour workweek would likely incentivize employers to shift or reduce work hours around so that their workers fall under the threshold. More people would be affected than with a 30-hour workweek threshold, because more people work 40-hour weeks. Almost 29 million employees of large firms work 40 to 44 hours per week, while just 3 million work 30 to 34 hours per week, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund.
