Obamacare Punishes Part-Time Workers: Trader Joe’s Capitulates

Trader Joe

It’s not Trader’s Joe’s fault.  They’re just following the necessities of the market created by Obamacare.  The specialty grocery store chain recently told its part-time employees that they’re dumping them from their current health insurance benefit program.  They get Obamacare, now.  The same program that Congress wants nothing to do with for their own families.

According to the Washington Post,

The grocery chain, in a memo obtained by the Huffington Post, told part-time employees that it would end their health insurance benefits for employees who work less than 30 hours a week, sending them instead to the new public insurance marketplaces with an extra $500 to help purchase coverage.

“Depending on income earned outside of Trader Joe’s, we believe that with the $500 from Trader Joe’s and the tax credits available under the ACA, many crew members should be able to obtain health-care coverage at very little, if any, net cost,” the company said Thursday in a statement to Bloomberg.

So what does this decision by Trader Joe’s tell us about the Affordable Care Act? A few things.

Before we get to that, though, its worth thinking about why Trader Joe’s – or any employer – offers health insurance right now.

While health benefits are expensive, companies typically offer them to stay competitive. A robust health plan can go a long way in wooing potential employees – especially when most of the market doesn’t offer part-time workers the opportunity to buy coverage.

Welcome to Second Class Medicine…if you can get it at all.

 

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