ATLANTA — Home Depot is eliminating the limited medical insurance it offers its many part-time employees, forcing those workers to seek coverage from new public insurance marketplaces that open Oct. 1 or face a penalty.
The Atlanta-based retailing giant said its move is in reaction to the new law on health care coverage, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Home Depot joins a growing list of corporations that have sliced or shifted their employee health insurance offerings, some citing potential savings and others pointing to better employee benefits.
The change affects about 20,000 part-time Home Depot workers nationwide who take the insurance coverage. Some part-time workers do not take the coverage. The company has about 340,000 employees, but the retailer would not say how many are part-time.
The company would not disclose how much it will save by dropping the insurance. Spokesman Stephen Holmes said, “We do not believe the impact of ACA will be material to the company’s financials.”
Individuals can qualify for subsidies toward the cost of their insurance if their household income is low enough.
In a letter to its employees, the company wrote: “As part of the new health care law, limited medical plans are no longer allowable in 2014. Our current part-time … plans are impacted by this.”
The letter continues, “In place of that, the law does provide for a new public Marketplace (or ‘exchange’) that will offer you more options. Beginning in October, you can shop in the Marketplace for comprehensive medical coverage that meets your needs.”
Home Depot would not provide details of its limited plan or explain why it is not allowed under the new law. However, health insurance experts say the law effectively disallows some types of limited benefit plans by requiring that they have unlimited annual benefits.
Home Depot said it will continue to offer its part-time workers various benefits, including dental and vision coverage, life insurance, short-term disability insurance, a hospital indemnity plan and a critical illness protection plan.