[ClearCase_guy]

give each worker $500 to help buy health insurance

[kingu]

$500 pre-tax for most part time employees will mean an extra $6,000 a year for their salaries, likely lifting them above the federal poverty level for their household, erasing quite a few of their benefits, and likely quashing the earned income tax credit. They'll lose about a hundred dollars of that five hundred in taxes, and thus have $400 cash to spend on health care.

Their ‘ObamaCare’ subsidized coverage will likely look really cheap compared to that $400, and in fact, many will end up pocketing $150 - $250 depending upon their household income. And then at the end of the year, they'll suddenly find that they owe thousands as they figured their insurance at their old income level, not the new income level with the $500 monthly bonus.

In the end, what happens is that Target pushes part of the rising cost of health care onto the taxpayer, can point towards their new ‘living wage’ for part time employees to quash the union organizers, and the part time employees will end up with even less money in their pockets at the end of the year.

Oh, and of course, a running theme with ObamaCare - more people who had insurance have it yanked out from under them due to the ‘Affordable Care Act’, which simultaneously raises costs for those same employees while giving less benefits. Or in the eyes of a liberal, a success story.