This is, by the way, happening now. Not next year. Not October. Now.

Et tu, Wegmans?

The Rochester-based grocer that has been continually lauded for providing health insurance to its part-time workers will no longer offer that benefit.

I expect that this will probably be reversed pretty quickly, assuming that it hasn’t been already. But, still, you’re going to love THIS spin:

However, part-time employees may actually benefit from Wegmans’ decision, according to Brian Murphy, a partner at Lawley Benefits Group, an insurance brokerage firm in Buffalo.

“If you have an employee that qualifies for subsidized coverage, they might be better off going with that than a limited part-time benefit,” Murphy said.

That’s because subsidized coverage can have a lower out-of-pocket cost for the insured employee while also providing better benefits than an employer-paid plan.

So, basically: Wegmans is actually doing their part-time workers a favor if they eliminate their existing benefits, because then they’re allowed – well, required – to go onto the exchanges and see if they can find a program that could duplicate their old one! And they can use somebody’s tax money to help out with that! Of course, the exchanges aren’t scheduled to be up until October 1st, but once that happens everything should be fine. As long as the exchanges work properly, on the first try…

[pause]

…Oh, dear.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: For the record: the Republican party knew that the working class was going to get hammered by Obamacare. That’s one major reason why we were and are so adamantly against the dang thing.

Via

YOU DO NOT MESS WITH WEGMAN’S. “Wegmans cuts health benefits for part-time workers” http://t.co/E05oy3nDpz

— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) July 11, 2013