Florida Part-Time Employees Receive Health Coverage

If you’re a part-time employee in the state of Florida, you might have one less thing to worry about. Thursday, members of a Florida House panel reluctantly agreed to extend coverage to all part-time employees.

If they didn’t agree, the state would have to pay a fine of up to almost $300 million under President Obama’s federal health care law.

At a committee meeting in Tallahassee, Republican representative Gayle Harrell said the state had no choice. “Unfortunately, we have been put in a box where the fines come so untenable, if you don’t allow for participation, that we have no choice but to allow for participation,” said Harrell.

Some lawmakers even suggest offering part-time workers scaled-down benefits as a way to save money.  State officials estimate it might cost Florida about 36 million dollars to cover part-time employees who work on average about 30-hours per week.

Some of those who are currently employed part-time welcome the new health coverage.  Zachary Taylor, a recent Florida State graduate, now works part-time at Target Copy.  He says he supports the new coverage.

“I like the bill because insurance is pretty important and a lot of people can’t afford it, especially if they have to pay for utility and school and a lot of stuff like that. Insurance is kind of a back thought, when it should be right up front,” said Taylor.

Many of the states part-time employees work in the health sector and the university system.  State officials say Florida could also face a $50 million increase in order to make its health plan for full-time employees comply with the federal health law.