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Video: President Obama's Statement on the Affordable Care Act

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Justanotherhuman4/01/2014 1:58:51 pm PDT

re: #32 GeneJockey

In my industry we hire a LOT of temps, who are nominally employees of the agency we get them from. Some agencies offer health benefits, some don’t. I believe this will change when the employer mandate kicks in.

This may have the side effect of reducing what I see as the abuse of the idea of ‘temporary employees’ in the industry, where it’s essentially openended till the temp makes it clear he/she’s entertaining other offers. If the temp agencies have to raise their rates because they need to provide health insurance, then cost of a temp versus a permanent employee become more equal, so why not either hire as a permanent to start, or at least convert after a lot shorter period.

Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, I would get temp jobs in between permanent gigs, sometimes for very short periods (got a few perms that way), but even then, if you worked for the temp agency (like Kelly) for a certain length of time, you were eligible for group health. You were actually their employee, no matter how long you worked at the place you were assigned.

I don’t know how they work it these days. Contractors seem to be in a real limbo.