Health Care Act: Navigating Obamacare

• A full-time employee is one who can be reasonably expected to work (on average) 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month.
• A new employee is a variable-hour employee if it cannot be determined that the worker can be reasonably expected to be employed an average of 30 hours per week. Variable-hour workers will have to be tracked for their administrative period and stability period.
• A seasonal employee works less than 120 days per year, but starting next year, the law only requires employers to use a good-faith interpretation and does not need to be offered health insurance.

The exchanges offer a double-edged sword for employers, according to Wong. "The advantage of the exchanges is that people will be able to have different plan options with different insurance companies," he says. "The down side is that, because of all the requirements of the plans in the exchange, the costs could potentially be very high and even though there are going to be subsidies for up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, the subsidies will probably be very minor the higher the income."