Washington Post reported on the use of Temp Employees to help keep companies below 50 employees.
This is very interesting article because is establishes a strategy of keeping a group from paying a penalty for not providing group health benefits. From the article, there looks to be a loop hole with providing coverage to Temporary employees. This could become a power full strategy for many Manuel labor industries.
A company could have 40 employees but need 60 to operate. If the group goes over 50 then they would either provide group health benefits, that follow the federal guideline, or a pay a penalty. That penalty would be $2,000 per full time employees. With many companies that have low paying jobs, group health benefits have always been a struggle.
Any company that is looking to game the new health care laws have had there problems providing health insurance in the past. The problems have be participation and underwriting. Many companies that have a lower pay scale can attract high utilization health conditions. The usually leads to higher premiums and unless the company is paying a large portion of the premium the employee will drop off. At these lower pay scales, many of the employees can qualify for a subsidized plan through the state which leads to a lack of participation.
Many companies will have to take advantage of this loop hole to stay in business.
