A Republican bill that would change the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's definition of full-time employees would increase the federal deficit and reduce the number of people with employer-based coverage, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.
From 2015 to 2024, the legislation — called the "Save American Workers Act" — would reduce the number of people with employment-based coverage by about 1 million and increase the number getting coverage through Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program or the PPACA health insurance exchanges by between 500,000 and 1 million people, according to the report. It would expand the uninsured population by less than 500,000.
As a consequence of this shift and changes in penalties, the CBO has estimated the measure would increase budget deficits by $73.7 billion from 2015 to 2024.
The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.), would change the PPACA definition of full-time employees, increasing the threshold from 30 hours per week to 40 hours. The PPACA requires employers to offer health plans if they have more than 50 full-time employees. Mr. Young has said the current definition of full-time employment drives companies to reduce their workers' hours to less than 30 per week to ensure they fall short of the threshold of 50 full-time employees.
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