MOSCOW, January 6 (Sputnik) — The newly convened Republican-controlled House of Representatives, the lower house of US Congress, is going to vote on the bill that might take away up to 1.5 million employer-sponsored health insurance policies from US workers, Mother Jones magazine reported Tuesday.
The legislation that is being put forward by the Republicans will raise the number of hours a person must work to be considered a full time worker to 40 hours per week. According to current US legislation, persons working 30 hours per week qualify as full-time employees.
The Affordable Care Act's regulation, also known as the employer mandate, requires companies that hire 50 or more people to ensure 95 percent of the company's full-time staff are covered by affordable health insurance. The regulation comes into force this year.
Almost a half of Americans work 40 hours per week or more, Mother Jones magazine reported. Changing the definition of a full-time worker could help employers wishing to avoid providing health insurance to their employees to do so by slightly cutting their hours.
According to Mother Jones magazine, if the bill is passed, half a million people in the United States could lose their health insurance entirely. Another million workers could be moved into Medicaid, a health care program for individuals with low incomes, or the health exchanges created by Obamacare, increasing the federal deficit by $73.7 billion over 10 years.
Since 2011 Republican leaders in the Congress have voted 54 times to undo or alter portions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Each attempt was blocked by Democrats.
