Oct 26, 2009 4:00 pm US/Eastern
Survive In '09: Few Part Time Employees Insured
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Is the high cost of health insurance premiums enough to make you sick? These days, only about 60 percent of employers provide health benefits and the numbers are even worse for those who work only part time. 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan tells us if you need coverage, it's more likely offered at large companies.
Fewer than a third of American companies offer part-time employees health care benefits with big companies twice as likely to offer coverage than the nation's smallest businesses.
Lauren Roth makes some of the colorful signs you'll see at Whole Foods in New Jersey and while even working only part-time, she has health benefits. That's because Whole Foods is an atypical company, providing access to full health benefits for its part time workers.
Lauren says, "Before I started working here, I was paying almost $400 a month, and that was just medical, not vision or dental or anything." Lauren now pays half that.
Of Whole Foods 51,000 employees, 10,000 are part time, and one in five of them opt in to the company health plan.
Christina Minardi, a regional president of Whole Foods says, "We hear from our part-timers that they really want the benefits. Since it is benefits at a reduced rate, it just makes sense. It's a win-win for them and for us."
Employees at bigger companies have an edge. Support.com has 400 part time employees and is one of the rare small businesses that provides health coverage. Support.com President Josh Pinkus says, "We think this makes good business sense in the long run."
Most other small businesses say if health care were more affordable, they would provide it. But, for now, it's usually a choice between providing benefits or a pay raise.
Todd McCracken, President of the National Small Business Association says, "There are a lot of part-time workers who aren't demanding health insurance so much as they're demanding more cash."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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