Feb 21 2014
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says Republicans will seek to change the law's definition of full-time workers to those logging more than 40 hours a week. Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley criticizes the administration's response to questions about whether insurers must accept third-party payments to cover an enrollee's premiums.
The Fiscal Times: Obamacare's 30-Hour Workweek Challenged By GOP
Under Obamacare's employer mandate, companies with 50 or more "full-time" employees will be required to offer health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty if at least one of their employees purchases a plan through the healthcare marketplace with a federal subsidy. In an Op-Ed published in the National Review Online, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the House will be focusing on changing the law's definition of "full-time employees" to workers logging more than 40 hours a week or 174 hours a month for full-time equivalents (Ehley, 2/19).
The Wall Street Journal: Grassley Scolds HHS Over Health Law Guidance
The issue: As the Journal reported in December, some hospitals want to be able to pay premiums on behalf of some people so it can guarantee they have coverage if they turn up looking for treatment. Insurers say this move would be a conflict of interest for hospitals and could threaten the economic underpinnings of the law because it would likely lead to more sick people getting enrolled (Radnofsky, 2/19).
|
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
|