Or they knew exactly what would happen but went with it anyway so they'd have a bill that would actually get through the Senate. If you assume employer-provided

Or they knew exactly what would happen but went with it anyway so they'd have a bill that would actually get through the Senate. If you assume employer-provided insurance (which is bad but what the U.S. has), what's the alternative? Any part-time number you pick, some employers will schedule people just below it so if someone works even one hour, they get covered? How do you then sort out which of multiple employers actually provides insurance? Short-sighted, penny-pinching employers will always look for a loophole, if they couldn't get out of it by reducing hours, they'd do something like call each worker a "contractor" and not employee.