MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. retail giant Target Corp. said that due to the healthcare law it would discontinue health insurance options for part-time workers.
"Healthcare reform is transforming the benefits landscape and affecting how all employers, including Target, administer health benefits coverage," the retailer's vice president of human resources, Jodee Kozlak, said in an online posting, the St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press reported Wednesday.
Kozlak said less than 10 percent of its workforce was enrolled in its health insurance plan for part-time workers and that some could benefit from the switch because of subsidies granted to those who purchase insurance through federal or state-run exchanges.
"We recognize this change may be better for some and also may cause disruption for those who previously elected to enroll," Kozlak said.
David Martin, a principal at Ahmann Martin Risk and Benefit Consulting, said that Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, subsidies could make Target dropping the benefit "a better deal for the employee."
"Now, everyone has access [to health insurance] if they want it. And if they're part-time and that's the only source of wages, their subsidy through the public exchange could reduce the cost of coverage much lower than what an employer could provide to them," Martin said.
Target said it would grant part time employees who are losing their coverage $500, the newspaper reported.
