7 ms·

No. While most people (especially higher wage workers) get health insurance through their employer, it is not guaranteed that your employer will provide that be

No. While most people (especially higher wage workers) get health insurance through their employer, it is not guaranteed that your employer will provide that benefit. Prior to Obama, low wage workers might be scheduled to work full time without health insurance. If they're poor enough, they might get Medicaid from the state; otherwise they get to ruin their credit and claim bankruptcy if they show up at the emergency room. Obama passed ACA, which required employers with full time workers to provide health insurance or pay a fine per worker. Full time is defined as 30 hours per week or more by ACA. So in low wage jobs, employers responded by scheduling people for 29 hours. So if you work multiple jobs or a job+doordash/uber/etc... you may work full time, and not have any health insurance because no one employer is going over 29 hours. ACA also expanded Medicaid, but some states decided to decline that expansion. So whether that covers a low wage worker depends on where they are, the size of their household, and their total household earnings. For many of these workers, it's not just the risk of unexpected medical bills that they can't pay... they rarely have savings, so if they miss a few days of work (say because they contracted COVID), that can spiral into a series of missed bills. And with the eviction moratorium coming to an end, that now includes losing their home.

hnick 5y ago
Does anything happen if they keep you back for an hour and you "accidentally" go over the 30 hours? Or is it entirely based on the contract?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- lolinder 5y ago
  The threshold is 30 hours on average in a given month [0]. So, presumably, if you work 31 hours one week they'd make you work 28 the next to avoid you being labeled full-time. [0] https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/identifying-full-time-employees https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/identifyin...
- whoknew1122 5y ago
  Full-time is determined by whether or not someone works 'an average' of 30 hours a week. To qualify as a full-time worker, you have to work 130 hours a month. So your employer would just cut back your scheduled hours the next week to stay under 130 hours. And employment contracts for hourly works are incredibly rare and pretty much nonexistent for part-time workers.
- kradroy 5y ago
  In many of those cases they don't officially record it and it's called "wage theft."
- a3n 5y ago
  The manager gets a stern talking to. Really.
  - a3n 5y ago
    I have worked retail, and almost been physically pushed out the door at the point that my manager was risking a subordinate going over X hours. They are held accountable for it.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- wombatpm 5y ago
  Failure to clock in and out properly can result in termination.
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  Unfortunately, in most areas, low-wage workers get no contract whatsoever: YOu can pretty much be fired at any time for almost any reason except for a few federally protected ones. Those are easy to work around. I'm not sure if going over one month does anything, and it most certainly doesn't do anything in a week: Some places will schedule folks around 40 hours for a couple weeks and then nearly nothing for a week to get the average down.
gowld 5y ago
But ACA created a large market for individual insurance, and 30 hr workers don't get mandated free insurance, they only get the right to buy into a group plan.
- koolba 5y ago
  At those low wage levels you’d either get free Medicaid (up to 4x poverty line depending on your State) or heavily subsidized marketplace plan.
  - HarryHirsch 5y ago
    These plans are crap, you pay hundreds of dollars that you don't really have to get stuck with a deductible of thousands. Obamacare needs to die, maybe it does with the pandemic.
    - lostcolony 5y ago
      I hate to break it to you, but most employer plans, even in tech, will have someone paying hundreds of dollars and still have a deductible of thousands. Only a few companies pay all of it (and, because we're talking tech, it's not that big a deal anyway since cost of plan + max out of pocket is < $15k). The fact it's easier to afford if you make more money is...well, sort of the reason why people want it to be universal, and covered by taxes, so the rich can offset it for the poor.
      - HarryHirsch 5y ago
        What I'm saying is that at the low end of the wage scale Obamacare is a public health hazard. You have people avoiding necessary healthcare because the money for deductible or medication isn't there.
        MichaelApproved 5y ago
        It was even worse before the ACA. At least with Obamacare, you (likely) won’t go bankrupt if you break a leg. You also get preventative care fully covered (or ~$30 copay) even with plans that have $6,000 deductibles. That includes both low & high cost items, like annual physicals and colonoscopies. No, Obamacare shouldn’t die (as you said in an earlier comment) but it should be replaced with something that improves on what it’s already done. Personally, I favor Medicare for all.
at_a_remove 5y ago
I very much face-palmed when Obama pushed through the "full-time" bit. The counter-move was obvious and it happened just as I would have expected. Surely Obama and his advisors would have seen that one coming, so I have forever been left wondering why that particular loophole was left open ... what was bought with that?
- yhoneycomb 5y ago
  When has any neoliberal policy actually benefited the poor?
  - NtochkaNzvanova 5y ago
    All the time. Only it's the poor of other countries, not our own.
    - yhoneycomb 5y ago
      True
- michaelmrose 5y ago
  People can also buy health care plans directly through the exchange and use essentially a pre paid tax credit to directly pay part of their premiums. For example the monthly premium for a couple may be $1000 but the cost to the customer could be $300. At the income point just beyond medicaid eligibility this will virtually always be cheaper than what your employer offers.
  - onion2k 5y ago
    29 hours a week is about 130 hours a month. Assuming a wage of $15 an hour, that's $1950. Spending $300 of that, about 15% of your pre-tax income, on health insurance is a decision few people would be happy about.
    - rafael09ed 5y ago
Spooky23 5y ago
Pretending this practice started with Obamacare is just not factual. Full time is a commitment to 35 hours a week, most retailers avoided that as much as possible. My recollection from working at CompUSA in college (a big box Best Buy like store) in the 90s was about 50-70 hourly employees, with 10-15 full timers.

hnick 5y ago

Does anything happen if they keep you back for an hour and you "accidentally" go over the 30 hours? Or is it entirely based on the contract?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lolinder 5y ago
The threshold is 30 hours on average in a given month [0]. So, presumably, if you work 31 hours one week they'd make you work 28 the next to avoid you being labeled full-time. [0] https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/identifying-full-time-employees https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/identifyin...
whoknew1122 5y ago
Full-time is determined by whether or not someone works 'an average' of 30 hours a week. To qualify as a full-time worker, you have to work 130 hours a month. So your employer would just cut back your scheduled hours the next week to stay under 130 hours. And employment contracts for hourly works are incredibly rare and pretty much nonexistent for part-time workers.
kradroy 5y ago
In many of those cases they don't officially record it and it's called "wage theft."
a3n 5y ago
The manager gets a stern talking to. Really.
- a3n 5y ago
  I have worked retail, and almost been physically pushed out the door at the point that my manager was risking a subordinate going over X hours. They are held accountable for it.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
wombatpm 5y ago
Failure to clock in and out properly can result in termination.
Broken_Hippo 5y ago
Unfortunately, in most areas, low-wage workers get no contract whatsoever: YOu can pretty much be fired at any time for almost any reason except for a few federally protected ones. Those are easy to work around. I'm not sure if going over one month does anything, and it most certainly doesn't do anything in a week: Some places will schedule folks around 40 hours for a couple weeks and then nearly nothing for a week to get the average down.

gowld 5y ago

But ACA created a large market for individual insurance, and 30 hr workers don't get mandated free insurance, they only get the right to buy into a group plan.

koolba 5y ago
At those low wage levels you’d either get free Medicaid (up to 4x poverty line depending on your State) or heavily subsidized marketplace plan.
- HarryHirsch 5y ago
  These plans are crap, you pay hundreds of dollars that you don't really have to get stuck with a deductible of thousands. Obamacare needs to die, maybe it does with the pandemic.
  - lostcolony 5y ago
    I hate to break it to you, but most employer plans, even in tech, will have someone paying hundreds of dollars and still have a deductible of thousands. Only a few companies pay all of it (and, because we're talking tech, it's not that big a deal anyway since cost of plan + max out of pocket is < $15k). The fact it's easier to afford if you make more money is...well, sort of the reason why people want it to be universal, and covered by taxes, so the rich can offset it for the poor.
    - HarryHirsch 5y ago
      What I'm saying is that at the low end of the wage scale Obamacare is a public health hazard. You have people avoiding necessary healthcare because the money for deductible or medication isn't there.
      - MichaelApproved 5y ago
        It was even worse before the ACA. At least with Obamacare, you (likely) won’t go bankrupt if you break a leg. You also get preventative care fully covered (or ~$30 copay) even with plans that have $6,000 deductibles. That includes both low & high cost items, like annual physicals and colonoscopies. No, Obamacare shouldn’t die (as you said in an earlier comment) but it should be replaced with something that improves on what it’s already done. Personally, I favor Medicare for all.

at_a_remove 5y ago

I very much face-palmed when Obama pushed through the "full-time" bit. The counter-move was obvious and it happened just as I would have expected. Surely Obama and his advisors would have seen that one coming, so I have forever been left wondering why that particular loophole was left open ... what was bought with that?

yhoneycomb 5y ago
When has any neoliberal policy actually benefited the poor?
- NtochkaNzvanova 5y ago
  All the time. Only it's the poor of other countries, not our own.
  - yhoneycomb 5y ago
    True
michaelmrose 5y ago
People can also buy health care plans directly through the exchange and use essentially a pre paid tax credit to directly pay part of their premiums. For example the monthly premium for a couple may be $1000 but the cost to the customer could be $300. At the income point just beyond medicaid eligibility this will virtually always be cheaper than what your employer offers.
- onion2k 5y ago
  29 hours a week is about 130 hours a month. Assuming a wage of $15 an hour, that's $1950. Spending $300 of that, about 15% of your pre-tax income, on health insurance is a decision few people would be happy about.
  - rafael09ed 5y ago

Spooky23 5y ago

Pretending this practice started with Obamacare is just not factual. Full time is a commitment to 35 hours a week, most retailers avoided that as much as possible. My recollection from working at CompUSA in college (a big box Best Buy like store) in the 90s was about 50-70 hourly employees, with 10-15 full timers.