Whether you support the Affordable Care Act or believe it’s a colossal mistake, there’s no denying that it is continuing to influence employers’ behavior — and not always constructively.
One of the more significant adjustments has been how companies such as Wal-Mart and Target are cutting health insurance for part-time workers in part because they fear the impact of other ACA provisions on their bottom lines.
But it isn’t only private employers who have made adjustments. , the University of Colorado has limited student-employee hours to 25 a week in order to avoid having to provide health insurance or pay fines.
And CU is by no means alone. Many employers, public and private, have implemented similar policies in response to the law.
CU maintains that its new policy, while spurred by the ACA, also seeks to support “degree attainment as the student’s primary focus” and to boost the six-year graduation rate. Maybe so. But it can’t be good for all the students who have their hours cut. Nor can such a policy, if widespread, fail to hurt the economy.
The ACA shouldn’t be repealed, but it could benefit from some targeted tweaking.
